july 2013

july 21

at the lavender farm

apparently i've gone to monthly updates! it's been pretty hectic between travel and visitors so hopefully in this next [quieter] month i might have a little more blogging time

bye di and stewart!

the day after di and stewart left we headed back to richmond for the first time since we moved [a year to the day]. we met up with aly who had a wonderful week in richmond belatedly celebrating her 13th birthday with her friends, going to another friend's birthday, a sleepover with another friend, a day at the pool and most importantly, 'graduating' from her old elementary school.

we arrived just in time for 'hamilton days' - a community get together followed by an outdoor movie. it was very strange to stand at the top of the hill overlooking my old community. it was almost more sad than the day i left because i was suddenly aware of everything and everyone i had left behind. i love kelowna, but it was nice to arrive and know almost all of the people around me and be able to fall into conversations as though i'd only seen them a day ago instead of a year ago. it's difficult to start from scratch. conversations are more difficult and you don't always know where to turn for advice or services [or babysitting!]. there were a couple of people i had the chance to reconnect with who i hadn't seen a lot of in the past few years for one reason or another, but who had had a big impact on my life and the lives of my children. it turns out we'd had a big impact on their too. who knew?!

we spent a couple of days with the adams family and they had a great canada day party which meant another opportunity to see good friends, then we spent a couple of days with the ramanathan family and went down to the salmon festival on canada day itself which meant i got to see a few friends i used to work with at richmond family place. richmond was HOT, and although the temperatures are usually 5 degrees higher in kelowna, we were missing our geo-thermal air con!

after that we headed to victoria for the rest of the week. we got to the see their fabulous new house. there was still plenty of unpacking and organizing to do which made me happy :) zoe still wants nothing to do with the farm and aly wants nothing to do with us when she can play on the farm! toby and i got involved in tracking down the ever-escaping baby and teenage turkeys and collecting eggs [although we did make aly do the fishing around under the chickens' bottoms for them!]. toryn and i made some essential oil from a eucalyptus tree and we got to play some golf at the ridge. it doesn't always feel like a holiday when you visit family and friends, but this trip most definitely did and we were not ready to leave for our 7-hour journey back to kelowna. thank goodness for i-devices. the children didn't even bother to turn the dvd player on in the car!

new house!

golf at the ridge

worst design for a pig ever. how do they find their food?

one of the many episodes of escaping turkeys!

the following weekend my friends cecilia and debbie came to visit with their children, so there were 11 of us in the house. fortunately it's a big house and we barely heard the children downstairs who all got on amazingly well. we had a very entertaining tour around the club penguin studio which went down well with the children who are big fans. we had a lovely time picnicking in the park and playing on the beach with them. my long lost friend kim and i even managed to get together; it's difficult to go from seeing someone 5 days a week to not seeing them at all!

in the theatre at club penguin

at waterfront beach

at waterfront park

aly left for her volunteer trip to india with free the children this week. she flew to richmond where my wonderful friend renukha picked her up, took her home for the night and delivered her back to the airport at 4am the next morning. she then flew to toronto by herself where she met up with the group from free the children. after that she stopped in brussels briefly before going to new delhi, spending the night in the airport and then flying on to udaipur the next morning. she'll be there 3 weeks building a school and/or wells. she has loved free the children since she went to her first we day in 2011. she volunteered at last year's we day in vancouver and is so excited to actually be going to one of the communities they help. she'll be hauling bricks in monsoon season in 30 degree temperatures which feel like 40 due to 95% humidity. rather her than me! but i'm so proud of her. i think it will be a life changing experience.

bye aly!

we've just arranged to have toby spend 2 weeks away - one with his best friend, justin, in richmond [thank you connie], and the other in victoria [thanks colin and nikki]. i'm starting to have some regrets though because toby and zoe have been adorable this week. they've played downstairs all day and only appeared at mealtimes, there's been no fighting and they haven't even been playing video games the ENTIRE time. i'm not sure how well zoe will adjust to being an only child for 2 weeks. i think it's going to be a bit of a shock to her system and ours! i'd better line up some playdates for her quickly!

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