Category — Family

The title says it all. This Christmas was all about the grandkids, since they are all at just the perfect age for the season.

On Friday Dec 20/13 in the early afternoon we headed down the Kelowna to spend a couple days with Jeff, Lindsay, Zachary and Oliver.

Saturday morning we were up early to get over to Zach’s daycare to watch their Christmas concert. Man was it cute, there were about 20 kids in the concert and for the most part they stayed pretty well focused; well at least the little girls anyway, the little boys weren’t quite as focused.

Right at the end of the concert Santa Claus arrived to hand out presents and have the little ones sit on his knee or get as close as they dared.

Sunday morning we celebrated Christmas with Zachary and Oliver opening a few presents……… lots of fun for the little ones.

Family photo Christmas 2013.

Monday morning we headed over to Princeton to celebrate with Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad. This was also going to be a very special Christmas as Tamara’s brother Gene, his wife Tonya and their son Colton from Vernon were coming to Princeton. It was so great to have this much family together for this Christmas.

Brenda and I did a Gingerbread House project with Sage and Conrad which is always fun for us and the kids love all the sweets they get to eat.

On Christmas Eve we had a Christmas Concert with songs and complete with guest participants from the audience…….. lots of fun and laughs.

Christmas morning came early with Sage and Conrad making sure everyone was up early so we could start opening presents 🙂

Lego chaos.

Christmas dinner was amazing. Tamara did a tremendous job making sure that the turkey and all the fixings were tasty, there was lots and lots of food and the dessert was not only yummy but it was also very festive.

Family photo Christmas 2013!

What a great Christmas!

On Sunday August 11th we had arranged with Kevin, Tamara, Sage, Conrad, Jeff, Lindsay, Zachary and Oliver to meet in Merritt for a nice quiet Family Picnic as a celebration for my 60th Birthday on that day and Brenda’s upcoming 60th Birthday on September 3rd.

Well unknown to us, behind the scenes and in cahoots with our kids, everyone was busy  organizing and arranging a surprise birthday party that was much bigger and certainly included a lot more family. We sort of thought something “was afoot” when I didn’t receive a Happy Birthday phone call from my sister Donna. She hasn’t missed calling me on the morning of my birthday for at least the last 10 years……. so that was the first clue. The second clue was when Dean and Judy with GGPa and GGMa passed us on the highway headed down to Merritt 🙂

Around 12:30 we met the group from Princeton and a few minutes later the Kelowna gang arrived and as we were all saying our hellos all of sudden a cavalcade of vehicles started to pull into the parking lot at Merritt’s Rotary Park.

In addition to our immediate family there was Donna and Bob, Maureen and Duane, Lynda, George, Roxanne, Jennifer, Tricia, Johnny, Lynette, Arjun, Mike, Rose, Sarah, Mitchell, Dean, Judy, GGPa and GGMa, Brent, Karen and Colin…….. phew… what a gang!

It was so great to see so much of the family and extended family together. As with any family gathering the food started appearing from coolers, and boxes, a serving tent was set-up and there was enough grub to feed a military campaign for the next month. Everything was delicious and our Daughter-in-law Tamara made a special 60th Birthday Cake out of Cupcakes…. Yummy!

After lunch there was a Pinata that Sage, Conrad and I had trouble opening with the stick, but in the end we got it and got lots of Candy.Then it was time for lots of visiting, lots of laughs and lots of Hugs. What a great family 🙂

There was also a lot of pictures taken by everyone…… especially the two photog’s in this picture; the one in the pink and the one in black. All of the pictures that are used in this Blog were courtesy of our niece Tricia. Check out her photo site http://mercuriphotography.smugmug.com/

By early afternoon it was time for everyone to say goodbye and for us to head off on our trip down to Washington State and over to Whidbey Island.

It was a great day and we are blessed.

Thanks to everyone in the family that made this day possible.

Well, it’s been a while since we have updated our Weblog so get ready for a few updates following this one.

The August long weekend was Sabrina (our niece’s) and Mike’s Wedding weekend in Prince George.

On Friday night Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad stayed at our house so it would help shorten the trip a little the next day. On Saturday morning we picked up GGPa and GGMa early and headed off. Jeff, Lindsay, Zachary and Oliver flew from Kelowna the day before and were waiting in P. G. for everyone to arrive.

Once in P.G. we had a couple hours to visit and put our feet up before heading out to Dean & Judy’s for an evening rehearsal dinner party.

Their backyard and garden areas were landscaped perfectly and everything looked amazing. Lots of flowers and color and a whole bunch of family and friends to visit.

The little ones kept busy playing in the backyard pond and streams; nothing like stick and some water to entertain any kid?

We were able to get some great family pictures and it was a good evening. The wedding day was on Sunday and the ceremony was held at Dean & Judy’s.

The bride was beautiful and the groom was handsome; the only sad part was the little Amelia was not feeling well and was really lethargic, tired and needed to be held constantly.

For the reception we headed back into town at the Convention Center. Lots of decorating, lots of colors and props in addition to the travel themed evening where each table was a different destination. The food was delicious, we ate too much and enjoyed every bit of it.

The dance was the best part. Sage, Conrad and Zachary danced their little feet off………… or should that be they basically ran in circles laughing and giggling and enjoying everyone and the evening.

Last Thursday we made a quick overnight trip down to Princeton so we could have a visit and get some grand-parent time.

We arrived just before Kevin got home from work and we had a few minutes with him before we went over to Little Folks Daycare to pick up Sage and Conrad. Both kids are in a 2 week summer program and Tamara is assisting at the daycare. Kevin and Tamara never told the kids we were coming so they we quite surprised to see us and we got lots of hugs 🙂 The best part about being a grandparent!

From daycare we all headed over to the swimming pool as both kids are members of the Princeton Kokanee Swim Club.

Sage is in Development, Conrad is in Turtles and both are doing amazing.

Sage easily swims laps and is learning lots of new swim strokes and kicks; she is really in her element in the water and the pool.

Conrad has gone from sitting on the side just watching and not wanting to get near the pool to a kid who enjoys the water and is much more confident.

After swim club we went back to Kevin and Tamara’s for a great bar-b-qustreak dinner and lots of visiting.

The next morning Kevin headed off to work real early so we never saw him leave, but we had a great time at breakfast making pancakes and then visiting with Tamara and the kids until we left.

Not too long after we got home Jeff, Lindsay, Zachary and Oliver arrived on Thurday night for the start of Oliver’s birthday weekend.

It’s hard to believe that Oliver turned 1 year old this past weekend and we were so lucky that they came to Kamloops to celebrate.

One of the main reasons that they all came here was because their good friends Jill and Mark and baby Emily from Calgary were in town so Mark could compete in the Canadian Disc Golf Championships Held at the Rose Hill and Logan Lake courses.

Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad arrived Saturday afternoon and pretty soon it was time for the Birthday Party.

Oliver enjoyed opening his presents with help from the other kids and then it was time for cake………. Yummy!

On Sunday we went to the Kamloops Wildlife Park and both boys loved seeing all the animals and especially enjoyed riding the miniature train.

It was a fun, busy and tiring weekend.

The past weekend was our Family Sun Peaks Ski Vacation.

Jeff, Lindsay, Zachary and Oliver arrived from Kelowna on Thursday night. So, on Friday afternoon we all headed up to Sun Peaks around 3 o’clock. Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad left Princeton a little later on Friday afternoon and they all arrived around 7:00 p.m.

After everyone got settled in and fed dinner it was time for the kids “Treasure Hunt”.

This year instead of one large treasure hunt for all the kids we made up 3 different ones.

The first treasure hunt was for Conrad and Zachary. We started by giving them each a set of keys and a picture of an item somewhere in the condo; the pictures (clues) were cut of newspaper ads. At the first hidden location they found a small box that was locked with two locks.

Each of them had to use the keys we gave them to open the boxes we had hid around the condo; the picture inside the box revealed the location of the next clue. The final box sent them to where we had hidden their “Treasure”.

For Oliver we hid his “Treasure” behind a chair and tied a long piece of wool to it and the rest of the kids helped him find his “Treasure”.

Sage’s treasure hunt was much more difficult.

Each clue had a mathematics question and the correct answer to the question told her where she had to go in the condo to find her next  clue.

This continued until the final clue lead her to where her “Treasure” was located.

On Saturday morning Kevin, Jeff and Lindsay hit the slopes and then after lunch Tamara and Sage headed off for ski lessons. Meanwhile Brenda and I took Conrad, Zach and Oliver for a walk and some time with the snow sleds. Then it was time for Zach and Oliver to have a nap while Conrad and I went sledding on some steeper slopes.

Sunday morning was time for family visiting, bonding and pictures.

It was definitely a weekend that included lots of laughs, lots of food and lots of love.

Very special family times.

Below are a few more pictures from Christmas 2012.

The first seven pictures are from our niece Tricia, who kindly stopped by to take some family Christmas pictures just before dinner. Thanks again Tricia……….. they are awesome.

The remainder are from Tamara and Kevin and also Jeff and Lindsay. It is so interesting that we all had our own cameras and came up with such a variety of great pictures.

Enjoy!

Christmas 2012 has been very special as both our boys families came to our home for Christmas; with four grandchildren it added up to 10 people here to celebrate a very joyous family time.

Everyone arrived on December 22nd and it was so good to see the cousins playing together and getting to know each other better

December 24th was Lindsay’s birthday so we had a party. Complete with party games and the final activity was a fish pond where everyone won a grab bag or a surprise. Later on the kids decorated the cupcakes for dessert.

On Christmas morning December 25th the kids actually slept in better than  anyone expected and then the present opening began. It was so much fun watching the kids help each other and their parents rip open the packaging to discover the gifts inside.

Early in the afternoon our niece Tricia stopped by to take family Christmas pictures. This was so good of her and as soon as she has them edited and posted  we’ll be sure to post some of them on our web site. Thanks Tricia….. you’re the best.

For Christmas dinner Kevin drove out and picked up GGMa and GGPa. It was so good that they were able to come over for dinner and be part of Christmas celebrations.

In the early afternoon on December 26th Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad headed home which was a sad time……. however we always look forward to the next time we get to see them.

On December 27th Jeff, Lindsay, Zachary and Oliver headed back to Kelowna right after lunch so the boys would have a snooze in the car on the way home.

The silence in the house is deafening.

We are truly blessed……… Merry Christmas Everyone!

Enjoy the pictures, they are in no particular order. .

On Saturday morning we headed down to Kelowna for Zachary’s 2nd Birthday. The  weather in Kamloops was cool but no snow, however they had received a real dump of snow in the Kelowna area and Jeff sent a text message just before we left to warn us.

Anyway, the roads were bare, but lots of snow in the fields and we made it safe and sound. After a bit of a visit and holding grand-kids the party folks started to arrive.

Lindsay and Jeff planned a Mickey Mouse theme party and Lindsay did a great job of decorating the party cake.

It was a fairly small gathering as lots of Zach’s friends had colds or were just no feeling well. But it worked out perfectly and a good time was had by all.

Lots of presents, cake, singing, laughing and everyone doing “The Mickey Mouse Hot Dog Dance”.

Oliver having a pre-party snooze

Enjoy the pictures.