In Our Backyard

2010-02-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.

Groundhog Day!

2010-02-02T11:59:00.000-08:00

WOW! 2010 already?

The Scots proverb says:
"If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be two winters in the year."
Woke up to a rainy morning here in the Lower Mainland... wonder what the Groundhog predicted for us - I know VANOC is hoping he saw his shadow, we could definitely use some winter weather for the next 3 weeks or so - then you can bring on SPRING!

We haven't been doing much in our backyard since school started - but it has been a flurry of activity there! Fundraisers, Christmas Hamper Drive, Movie Days, Spirit Days, Field Trips - the never ending fun for a parent that loves to be active with her kids' classes and the PAC!!
This month we have our 1st Annual Winter Carnival/Family Fun Fair coming up on the 11th, with a theme that celebrates the 100th Day of School as well as welcoming the world to our part of the world for the Winter Olympics. It is going to be a BLAST and we can't wait to host all our friends and neighbours from the Aldergrove Community!

On February 8th the kids in all our local schools will be dressing up in red and lining up along Fraser Hwy to welcome the Olympic Torch Relay as it comes through town - talk about EXCITED! A once in a lifetime opportunity!!

Back to School!!

2009-09-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

WOW!
My baby boy spent his first full day at school today. And he loved it!! My big girl is doing great too, Grade 2 this year - Oh my! Where has the time gone ?
They were so excited to be back to school and see their friends and so was I !! :) I didn't realize how important to me that little bit of chatter with the other parents in the morning was... it was great to catch up with people. Being involved with the kids' school is very important to me too - and I am looking forward to having more time to help out in the classrooms, and with the PAC. Not loving the getting up early and making lunches thing tho' -LOL- I'm the worst for sticking with a routine, so I am having to really keep a tight reign on myself to get back into the old "good habits" and stop running on "Summer Holiday Time"

The fruits of my labour!!

2009-09-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

After what was a fairly shaky start, my little garden is AMAZING!!I have already frozen up a bunch of oregano, dried tonnes of chives and garlic chives. The Italian parsley is bursting out of the pot!

We had a few casualties... the cilantro never really took, and the dill was wimpy at best - but I am so impressed with was has survived and thrived, seeing that I know NOTHING about gardening!!
My marigolds have just EXPLODED! and I even have a pretty purple petunia that has joined us, not sure how it got there as I did not plant any petunias...???
We have had lots of YUMMY cherry tomatoes, and the sweet banana pepper plant is incredible bountiful, unfortunately the bell pepper plant ended up in the shadow of my gargantuan tomato plant, and did not get many blossoms, the pepper we have had off is were so sweet and delicious though.

Summer fun!

2009-08-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well... way too many weeks have passed since my last entry - I guess summer just has a way of doing that to you!! The kids and I headed up to Penticton in the early part of August to visit family and hang out for Peach Festival - it actually was a nice relaxing week!! Daddy got a little R&R too at home with the house all to himself!!
:)
We went for a swim in both Skaha Lake and Okanagan Lake,and played a couple of times at the really cool Playground and Spraypark at Skaha Our second visit to Okanagan Lake had to be cut short due to the accumulation of ash washing up on the beach from the Terrace Mtn. fire on the other side of Kelowna from us. The smoke blowing up the lake from the fire also caused the CAF Snowbirds Demonstration Team to have to cut their Wed show over Okanagan Lake way short! It also grounded us a couple of days to - limiting the amount of time we could spend outside when the smoke was really heavy in the air.
Saturday we took in the Peach Festival Parade down Main Street -- this is a time-honoured family tradition that goes wayyy back!!
We picked up 20lbs of YUMMY Red Haven Peaches on our way home and cut and froze most of them - the others we ate!! Mmmmm.... Peaches, the best part of Summer!

-they were coming out of the smoke that was blowing up the lake from the Terrace Mtn fire on the other side of Kelowna. Unfortunately the smoke was too much of a hazard and they had to ground them and cancel the rest of the show shortly after this pass.

August??? How did it get to be August already??

2009-08-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

The last week has flown by... WOW! We are at half past summer already!

My daughter finished her summer program at school this week - she had a blast! I am so glad! But I am really happy it's over... What was I thinking -voluntarily getting up early and making school lunches for an extra 4 weeks!?!

The heat wave has kept us playing it pretty low key... a couple of trips to the water park to cool off, but mostly laying low... and looking for excuses to go anywhere air-conditioned!

My little garden has absolutely ERUPTED!! I am just waiting for my cherry tomatoes to ripen, I have a couple of sweet banana peppers almost ready for picking - I have harvested a BUNDLE of oregano, mint and spearmint, and the is plenty more where that came from... I just hope everything doesn't ripen while I am away this week-- I told hubby I would call him every night and remind him to water my plants!! :)

Whoosh! Another week goes by!

2009-07-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe we are already coming up on the end of July!!

A busy, busy weekend ahead!! Starting off with the Aldergrove Fair Days Parade on Saturday morning!! The parade runs down Fraser Hwy from 273rd to 270th starting at 10AM -- should be fun!! The Aldergrove Fair Days festivities run all weekend with the fairgrounds opening on Friday evening and fireworks on Saturday night! So many events happening down there over the whole weekend - always good family fun! And I love that is it so close to home!!

I will be checking in on my new "tweeps" (Twitter friends) as they participate in BLOGATHON 2009
- just a few of the Blogs I will be checking in on will be
Fraser Valley Pulse (raising $ for LAPS),
Miss 604 (Union Gospel Mission),
BlueFur (Team Diabetes),
Langley Politics Dotcom (United Way) and maybe a few others I discover along the way!

Best of luck to all the BLOGATHON participants -- be sure to check out the Blogathon site the see who's participating and what worthwhile charities are being represented -- and please feel free to pledge any of the participants in this amazing fundraiser! Maybe by next year I will be a seasoned enough blogger to participate!

well... time to wrangle the kids in and feed them some lunch and it's off to Costco we go! Maybe we can sneak a trip to the Waterpark in while we are out and about -- here comes that sunshine!!
:)

Block Party!

2009-07-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

Last night there was a good old-fashioned Block Party in our townhouse complex. Inspired by and organized by a group of neighbours from one section they put on one heck of a party! They blocked off the one section of rowhouses, and the street party began!

There was even a band!

A few neighbours brought out their grills, and many showed up with salads, sides, snacks and desserts. No shortage of food, I think there were even crab legs!! A few patio tables and a lot of lawn chairs, some coolers of sodas for the kids and BYOB for the adults. Let the party begin!

A volleyball net was strung from one driveway across the road to another, and a pingpong table in one carport. The kids were having a BLAST!! And it was a wonderful way to socialize with neighbours that you might only have met in passing before.

As it got dark - someone brought out glowsticks for the kids - and some sparklers for the older ones. It so much reminded me of summer parties from when I was a kid!

What an awesome summer evening !! We're already planning another for next year!

Wow! Half way through July already!

2009-07-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

Time is sure flying by! Although things have slowed down a little on the homefront after a crazy kickoff to summer vacation!

Hubby has been working 6 days a week and some crazy overtime hours, and now I am working (out side the home) on Sundays, so family time has been at a premium lately. This Saturday he is off, but I am going to be at an event promoting Sunset Gourmet. A few friends and I have organized a "For Your Kitchen" event so that everyone can stock their kitchens for summer entertaining! We will be from 10-3 at the Immanuel Lutheran Church Hall in Aldergrove, located at the corner of 32Avenue and 272 Street.
It should be a fun day - with samples and prizes from Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Watkins and Sunset Gourmet.

My daughter is in a summer program at school 9-2, M-Th - so it is just my little buddy and I hanging out together for the rest of July! Today we made the trek out to Surrey to go to the Passport office, I was quite impressed with how much more efficient it is now compared to the last time I was there (applying for passports for our honeymoon.) We were in there less than an hour total from the time we got out of the van until the time we pulled out of our parking spot!

I am hoping to get over to the Langley Farmer's Market while the kids are at TKD today -- can't wait to see what goodies are in store for us today!

Tomorrow or Friday I think we will make a visit to the Greater Vancouver Zoo! Always a fun way to spend a couple of hours. And at least with the Annual Family pass we get - I don't feel so guilty if all we do is visit the giraffe and play in the playground!

The sun is struggling hard to make an appearance this afternoon - YAY!

Where did the week go?

2009-07-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

Whew! I can't believe it is already Friday!!

A pretty uneventful week, with a fair bit of downtime sue to the rainy weather. Not that it wasn't welcomed... the downtime AND the rain - my garden is LOVING it!!

Speaking if gardens, we did drop by the new Langley Community Farmers Market on Wednesday at the Langley Kwantlen Campus. What a wonderful selection of goodies!! From coffee to desserts, artisan breads, organic veggies, honey and even a selection of handcrafted jewelry and goods. Even with the on again-off again rain there was a fairly decent turn out when we were there just after 5PM. I picked up a huge bag of red peppers (needed for dinner) and a bag of Kettle Corn for the kids (well, us big kids too ;) !! )

I will definitley be a regular visitor!!

Lovely Lavender

2009-07-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today we visited Full Bloom Farm for their Lavender Festival. What a wonderful place -- I picked up brochures for their spa treatments and yoga classes - how wonderful would that be, yoga amongst the lavender...
The kids got their faces painted, and we had some awesome Lavender Lemonade! I picked up a lavender plant for the garden, and we clipped ourselves a bundle of fresh lavender to bring home.

My kids really want me to try to make a lavender ice cream like the one they had there. I did pick up a sheet of lavender recipes that the chef that was there had.

I was never fond of the smell of lavender until I experience FRESH, REAL lavender!! There is nothing like it!

Down Time! and a tea party

2009-07-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today we stayed home!! After such a busy week it was nice. My daughter wanted to invite some friends for tea, so I found this AMAZING recipe for Mini Lavender and Vanilla scones. They were a hit! With the kids and the moms that came by too!

Speaking of lavender... we are off to Full Bloom Farm and their Lavender Festival tomorrow!

What do you meant it's only Thursday??

2009-07-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of running errands and doing stuff... It is amazing how that can eat up your day!!
We heading into pick up Grandma so she could take the kids shoe/sandal shopping. After a quick lunch at g-ma's, we left grampa at home and headed to Willowbrook Mall on our quest for shoes! Luckily enough, we were able to find runners and sandals for both, and on sale too!! YAY!!

Then we took a tuckered out grandma home, and headed off to get passport photos done - I was quite impressed at my two, listening to the lady and following directions to a T! We were in an out in no time, just need to get daddy's done now, and next week one of our adventures will include a trip to the passport office!

Then it was off to the Langley City Library to return a book for me, and to look up some books on the Titanic - I have no idea where it came from, but suddenly, out of the blue, my daughter started mentioning the Titanic exhibit that we saw at the Royal BC Museum 2 summers ago. So we found a couple of books with some pretty good pictures, and perused through them until it was time for TKD.

After dinner I got to get out for some "me time" and met up with some good friends at The Milsean Shoppe in Aldergrove for coffee... I resisted buying any of their amazing demera butter crunch goodies, but I did treat myself to a blended DBC latte - HEAVEN in a glass... don't even want to think about calories on that one!!

Canada Day!

2009-07-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I'm a day behind - this week seems to have just been non stop!! We had a lazy morning on Canada Day. We slept in so we missed out on the Pancake Breakfast at Krause Berry Farms, so I made blueberry pancakes for us with whipped topping to make up for it.
We decided to check out the Aldergrove Canada Day Country Fair. It was not quite like what I had pictured, it actually felt like we were crashing a private party - LOL. But the kids got a cotton candy and played some games and got balloon animals, so all was well. We walked back home and had something cool, and pretty much lazed around all afternoon. I made us a great dinner with grilled salmon, grilled asparagus and baby potato salad.

Hubby had worked all day and was beat, but the kids were so psyched to see the fireworks... I did not feel like braving the crowds at the Langley Celebration at MAP, so I ran to the store and picked up some goodies and we headed out plunk ourselves on the lawn at St Andrew's Anglican Church, just across the airport field. When we arrived it was apparent that this was not an original idea, as the parking lot was already quite full, and there was quite a crowd already camped out on the grass. It made for a nice family atmosphere as all the kids were running around waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireworks. The view from there was perfect, and the kids enjoyed the show, though I think my youngest slept through most of it !! :)

The nice part was not having to navigate the crowds in and out of the event grounds at MAP with 2 small, tired kids! It made for a pretty late night for all of us, but at least that lead to a sleep in morning the next morning! YAY!

Ahhh... Tuesday

2009-06-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

This morning our plans to have a tea party today were put on hold, so we made a spontaneous decision to head out to Aldergrove Lake. It wasn't nearly as busy as I thought it would be, but I have to say I am not a big fan of what they have replaced the sand at the lake with. Its a small crush pea-gravel type stuff, and it is rough on the feet! It also bites big-time when it comes to trying to build a sand castle or the like (my favorite part of going to the beach). I understand that the heavier gravel like "sand" makes the water less murky, but I have to say a thumbs down from my crew on the "playability".

Once I realized that I was starting to crisp up, even through my 45-block sunscreen, we decided to head home and have some lunch - and some yummy watermelon!

Then it was off TKD, on the way home we stopped at the store for a rotisserie chicken and some romaine and we had a nice light (no cooking minimal dishes!) kind of dinner on the back deck.

WOW! Doesn't look like a lot on paper, but it seemed to be another non- stop day! Hubby is working tomorrow :( -- so the kids and I might venture off to a Canada Day party somewhere... there are so many local events to choose from!! FraserValleyPulse.com has a whole listing of them HERE

Monday, Monday...

2009-06-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

Even though it felt like a Saturday - gotta love Summer Holidays for losing all track of time, days, months - LOL

This summer will be all about fun on a budget - we will be seeking out all the low-to-no cost fun activities that are available in the Fraser Valley! I am loving all the local resources that I have found to help seek out what's happening in our area! We are also making a conscious choice to become localvores to a large extent, so it will be fun seeking out all the local gems for goods and services as well as checking out the local farms and farmer's markets (can't wait for the one in Langley to open July 8th!!)

Be sure to check out Fraser Valley Pulse for where to shop, eat, and go in the Fraser Valley!

Now, on to our Monday:
First thing we were off to a birthday party at the new Langley Gymnastics Foundation located in the new Langley Events Centre - WOW - that place is HUGE!! The gym is so shiny and new!! The kids had a blast, and ate their fill of hotdogs, koolaid and cupcakes, so I decided we could burn some of that sugar rush at the playground and spraypark in Willoughby Community Park (conveniently located on the other side of the Events Centre!! ) What a cool playstructure - there were TONNES of kids on it, yet everyone was having fun - the spraypark was a little less crowded, but no less fun! The layout there is great with plenty of grass areas to set up a blanket and picnic, within good viewing of both play areas. I love the ample sized change rooms/washroom facilities, making it easier to get everyone changed into dry clothes for the trek home. We will definitely be going back!

Because of poor planning on my part we needed to head back home, before heading back into Langley for the kids to try out their second session at Langley's Woo Kim TaeKwonDo. They are loving it! and the head instructor Sahbumnim Gary McLaughlin is amazing with the kids! I am so excited that they are interested in TKD, and I hope that I can start training again in the not too distant future - it's a great family sport!

It was a busy day - and a beautiful evening, I love sitting outside in the evening and listening to all the kids playing!

Where to begin....

2009-06-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the chronicles of a busy SAHM mother/volunteer/activist/;
her energetic, creative, artistic, did-I-mention-energetic offspring;
and her ever loving and always (mostly) understanding and unbelievably accepting hubby!

In this episode we find mum (that's me) busy blogging away when she should be going to bed... story of my life! Tomorrow begins the first full week of SUMMER VACATION... where shall we begin??
First on the agenda for Monday is a birthday party, which will mean our first visit to the new Langley Events Centre - which will more than likely mean we will have to visit the new playground and spray park located in Willoughby Community Park (which surrounds the new Events Centre) - *note to self - need to pack towels, snacks and water!