Halloween 2014

Yes, Halloween is over now.  We've gathered up all the decorations ...

... and the last of the bats have been caught ...

... and everything has been boxed up for another year.

But everyone has been asking for a look at Walter's costume.  He wanted to be a guinea pig this year.  We bought the fake fur from the fabric store.  Felt and fingerless gloves from the dollar store, and some scissor and sewing action from Mommy made it happen.

The fingerless gloves were the paws.

 

You can see how effective they were at making Walter act the part of a guinea pig.

The guinea pig face was two pieces of felt cut into a mask shape, sewed together with thick cotton thread, and some fur fabric remnants as ears.

Walter loved his costume even though I thought I could have done a better job.

Another costume stored away.

Do you ever re-use your costumes?

Family Retreat on Vancouver Island

We spent the Victoria Day long weekend away at a family retreat with a huge group of families from Walter's Out of School Care group (in Canada Victoria Day falls on the last Monday before May 25th - this year that was May 19th).  There must have been over 300 parents and kids relaxing, challenging themselves and each other, and eating.  Occasionally, they let us sleep!

Be warned, this is photo-heavy ... but oh so beautiful ...

Camp Qwanoes, near Crofton, on Vancouver Island.

There were various accommodations to choose from.

Cabins ...

Treehouses (unfortunately, not open at this time of year) ... 

and dorm rooms ...

The advantage of the dorm rooms was that they were heated, had indoor plumbing (including showers), and relatively comfortable sleeping ... they were made up of multiple bunk beds, but heah, this is a camp that tends to see a huge number of teenagers each year and bunk beds hold a lot of people.  We chose a dorm room.

For me, it was about the beauty of the surrounding area.  Despite my height-induced vertigo these stairs led to a beautiful expanse of ocean.

The view beyond the stairs ...

With the tide out it was a great place for wandering and gazing off ...

From Manuel's perspective it was all about the climbing challenges.  He managed three quite different, but way-up-in-the-sky ones.

First up, the Elevator challenge, so called because of that rectangle floating way up in the sky (an old elevator shaft metal frame).

Manuel climbed up it so fast ...

I barely had time ...

to frame my pictures.   And then?  He had reached the top!  Apparently, he broke their record :)

After coming off of that he decided to try a simpler wall climb.

After climbing the easy and medium walls on this, the difficult wall defeated him because the stones were so far apart that he wasn't tall enough to do it.  I think, with practice, he would learn how to overcome that kind of obstacle.

He took the rest of the day off (!), but was back at it again the following day with the Sky Scrapper challenge.  Because of my height issues another parent partnered up with Manuel (you had to be in pairs to ensure you clamped on and off properly).

Not sure which of these pictures shows just how high up they went.  There were three levels.  Originally, they were going to start on level three and work their way down, but Manuel's partner realized how daunting it was once they got to the second level, so they worked their way around that one.

Crazy!  Manuel said it was really hard work and doing just that one level was good enough.

We were exhausted, and coming home to a softer bed was heaven.

Walter wants to go again next year ... I guess we have a year to re-energize.

Taking a Break from Baking

It's been one of those weekends where the weather tends to keep you shut up inside.  Useful for getting laundry and housework done.  Certainly gives you time for baking ... but even the lovely smell of baking bread wasn't enough to keep us inside for ever.  Halfway through the afternoon the rain let up and we all decided we needed some fresh air, if only for a short time.  So, we headed over to a nearby beach for a very windy walk along the shoreline.

Sometimes, even a short break is worth it.

Halloween 2013

I hope everyone had a lovely Halloween.  We certainly did ... only 27 children came trick or treating at our door, but we'd been told only to expect 5-6 so I figured this was a success.

Walter had a great time - he and Dad headed out just as it was starting to get dark and, according to Manuel, Walter ran from house to house.  He definitely had the whole bad-cop attitude going.

I think our house looked pretty good, too.  We had our tombstone near the doorbell (it has a motion-sensor on it so when somebody gets close it starts screaming and splits open to reveal a glowing-eyed skeleton).  To make it extra spooky we had our ghetto blaster set to repeat on a CD with howling, chain-rattling, heart-thumbing sounds.

A few days prior the whole family had carved some of the pumpkins, and Walter and I painted a few to add a bit more character.

Definitely a good first Halloween in our new home.

How a Guinea Pig Stole Our Hearts

I've been remise in introducing you to our newest family member - Cutey.

For several months Walter has been begging for a pet.  Throughout the summer we talked to him about the responsibility of having one.  Finally, we agreed that once school started we'd start looking.  We then began discussing the possible types of pets - hermit crabs, fish, hamsters, cats, dogs.  Walter and I wanted a cat, but Manuel didn't.  Manuel wanted a dog, but I didn't.  Finally, three weeks ago we met the perfect pet ... a lovely, young, American Short Haired Guinea Pig.  Cutey came home with us that day (Walter picked the name).

Before I met Manuel I had a guinea pig - Daisy.  Daisy transitioned to our pet.  We had both enjoyed her, and it was a very sad day when she died.  We thought on occasion about getting another one ... but somehow, it didn't happen.  Still, we kept all the equipment.  Which meant, that bringing home Cutey wasn't too difficult.  We just needed some saw dust, hay, and food pellets.

In just three short weeks she's become an integral part of the household.  When she hears the fridge open she'll squeak to remind you to get her something.  And at some point during the day you can hear her racing around her cage, getting in some exercise before settling into her nest to relax with some apple.  She likes to sit on our laps, watching Walter play Angry Birds Space.

Of course, I knew that bringing home a pet for Walter would mean I would be taking on more work in caring for her.  That's OK.  I love having a pet in the house - she's probably the easiest member of the household with the sweetest disposition.

Batty Halloween Craft and Creating Memories

I love Valentines Day, Easter, July 1st Canada Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas.  Walter makes these times even more special, and I love to do something memorable to make a lasting impression.  Halloween's great because I can be a little silly about things.  When I saw someone using black duct tape to make bats I thought it looked easy and doable.  Of course, I didn't have black duct tape, but I did have something a bit ghoulish and definitely Halloween-ish.  So, while Walter sat on the dining table playing with his Lego I whipped up a garland of duct tape bats.

Aren't they charming?  And so easy to do.  All you need is a roll of duct tape, some string, and scissors.

I cut a length of string - in my case I did about five feet.  I then began by cutting off a strip of duct tape about 8" long, laid it sticky side up and placed the string about mid-way between the two ends.  I then cut off another strip of duct tape the same length and stuck it on top of the first piece, sandwiching the string between.  I cut a simplistic bat shape out of the sandwiched tape, with the string taking up the body/head portion.  One bat down, five more to go.

The final garland took all of 10-20 minutes to do.

The duct tape gives the bats just enough shape while allowing some "natural" batty movement to occur.  The best part is that they are water proof and we can hang them outside without worrying about the rain.  They were the final piece of Halloween decorating that went up today.

You might be noticing a different colour to our front door, mailbox ... and, in fact, to the house itself.  Yes, we had the exterior of the house painted.  Once Manuel has the shutters back in place I'll take some photos and show you the results.

Before we did our Halloween decorations outside the house we went for our yearly pumpkin picking on Westham Island.  This has become something of a family tradition for us.  I think this must be our fourth year going?  The farm we go to does a great job in getting everyone into the spirit.

Along with the pumpkin theme, the farm has some animals that the children love to visit - donkeys, goats, chicken, and cows.

Of course, the most important part of the day is finding our pumpkins.

The whole day was very inspiring ... especially for Walter who started practicing his monster moves.

The funny thing is, he's not going as a monster - he chose a policeman costume!

Summer Camping 2013

Summer vacation for us is usually time with family, doing chores around the family farm, and spending some time back woods camping in Forest Services sites.  This year was no exception.  Two weeks filled to the brim with sun, farm work, camping, fishing, dirt roads, and lots of family time.

Let's get started ... first up, farm work.  The grapes needed trimming and weeds trimmed back.

The peaches needed harvesting ...

Then off to Christian Valley, in behind Big White ...

... to Nevertouch Lake.

Forest Services camp sites are either free or require just a small sum of money to stay at.  The trade-off?  Pit toilets, and very basic sites with no services.  You are expected to supply your own water, garbage services, and toilet paper.  Clean up after yourselves, and leave things better than you found them.  In return you get serenity, peace, quiet, incredible flora and fauna, and intense beauty all around.  The people you meet are overwhelming friendly and generous.

This isn't camping for the faint of heart.  There are lots of dirt roads to contend with.

Long, rolling dirt roads ...

With tree harvesting happening during the weekdays ...

... and campsites nestled in between.

Setting up camp.

Sites with incredible views.

Of course, fishing to help you relax.

After five days of camping we headed back to the farm to finish off our chores ... although we did take a day off to visit Summerland.

To ride the steam train.

After riding the train Walter declared he had ridden every type of transportation except for space rockets - cars, trucks, buses, sky trains, boats, planes, and steam trains.  Wow - only six and already so many ways to move around!