lotsa camping, part 2 of 5

The following weekend, we met up with Brian's brother, Mike, and his family at Cultus Lake Provincial Park - Maple Bay. Their friends were also there, so it was a 3-family camping trip.

This was our first time going camping with no water, sewer or electrical hook-ups. For those of you that don't know RV-speak, that means that the only amenities we had were the ones that the trailer could provide (i.e. water in the trailer's tanks and power from the trailer's propane and battery).

We actually did just fine without any hook-ups and it confirmed to me that I would MUCH rather be camping at a provincial park than an RV park. We've camped at provincial parks in the past, but for some reason, I thought having an RV meant we should be going to RV parks! I have NO idea why I thought that! Anyway, we loved Cultus Lake so much that when we got home, I tried to book a weekend in mid-July there too (see Part 4 of 5).

The other bonus with this camping trip was that Mike's family has a boat! So, not only did we go to the beach at Cultus, but we got out on the lake, too. Josh has been on a boat before (big and small!) but this was his and Aves first time on a ski boat (i.e. a boat that goes really fast!).

Aves was a bit cranky the whole time. She needed to be held. I'm not sure if it was the speed or wind or a combination of both. Josh was scared at first and claimed he wanted off, but once he settled into the noise and the wind, he quite liked it!

Then, I decided that since I was on a ski boat (and probably wouldn't get a chance to go again anytime soon) I better "ski". Mike had some wakeboards and wetsuits, so I geared up in whatever fit me best and got some water time. I had only been on a wakeboard once before - 8 years ago. But I was up for the challenge - after all, how much different could it be from snowboarding?!

I plopped into the water and it was FREEZING. Josh was scrutinizing my moves as I floated in the water, so I put on a happy face and had to tell him that I was having "fun". He seemed to be concerned that I was having a good time because he kept asking me if I was having fun!

After a bit of coaching from Mike and Colin and some untangling of the ski rope, I was ready for my first attempt. Remember: If you can't get up, then LET GO OF THE ROPE! A valuable lesson I learned waterskiing on the salty ocean water on Bermuda!

So, as expected, I didn't get up on my first attempt. It was a valiant effort, but I eventually let go of the rope. Apparently, even though I expected this, Josh didn't! When the boat circled back to get me, I could hear Josh crying and quite beside himself! Once the boat was close enough and I could re-assure Josh I was fine and having fun, he kept telling me that I had to come back in the boat!

I was shocked by his reaction. I'm not sure what was traumatic for Josh - maybe it was seeing me go underwater (he's been obsessed with going underwater ever since) or maybe it was seeing the boat ride off without me! Either way, it took alot of reassurance that I was okay and having fun and we could try it again.

Surprisingly, I got up on the next try. You can see the video of me below adjusting to my wakeboarding legs! I had finally gotten up the courage to jump the wake and the wake took me out! It was loads of fun and made me miss snowboarding. I got tired pretty fast and it took many tries before I was back up and riding. I managed to "jump" (or at least cross!) the wake a couple of times before packing it in.



Colin went after me (he was also a newbie to wakeboarding) and he managed to get on (and stay on) his feet very well. Josh made a point of reminding me of this by saying, "Mr. Colin did a great job!" and never once telling me that I did a great job! Sigh...

After dinner that night, the "boys" (Mike, Colin and Brian) headed out again for some wakeboarding and kneeboarding. We went with them to the boat launch and the kids got to play at the beach for a bit before heading to bed. As the boys rode off to find flat water, we could hear Enrique Iglesias blasting from the boat sound system. Freakin' hilarious...

Besides the boating, we had a fun time camping with everyone. Nightime around the campfire always makes for good stories and laughs. On Saturday night, the girls turned in early and the guys stayed up to finish the booze and the firewood. Seeing as how Mike and Colin are trained firefighters, it sounded like a BAD combination to me! The next morning, Brian told some wild story about fire, gas, a bottle and a fireball that shot 15 feet in the air. Ai-yah! Anyway, it's always fun to go camping with others and we look forward to going with Mike and Carm again...

lotsa camping, part 1 of 5

I've been a bit lax on blog postings because we were gone for 4 weekends in a 6 week period. We've been home for a few weekends now, but my brother, Lawrence, and his family have been in town visiting, so things haven't quite slowed down yet! More on that in a future post...

So, I found a minute to post about our camping mis-adventures with our new trailer. I've split it up into a 5-part series. Otherwise, it would be one long-a$$ post!

Camping has been a blast! Our sleeping arrangements have been a bit odd because we've given Avery the "bedroom" since she's still in her playpen. That will likely change next summer, but for now, it's easiest.

So, our first camping trip after our May long weekend inaugural trip was to a place called Camperland in Bridal Falls. We went there because, when we bought our trailer, we were given a free weekend there. All we had to do was take part in a sales pitch to try to get us to buy into a sort of "camping timeshare" at their collection of RV Parks (I know, freaking hilarious!). But it wasn't a big deal to sit in the talk for a free weekend of RVing!


We invited my girlfriend, Vangie, and her daughter, Skye, along with us. It was a fun weekend! Bridal Falls hosts the Bridal Falls Water Park and DinoTown (closing forever on September 6th!). The RV park also had a pool and a playground for the kids. But, we were in such close proximity to the tenters at the RV park, that Josh met many friends to play with and he rather enjoyed hanging around the campsite, playing with his friends!

Josh and Skye went to the water park on Saturday morning until Josh's naptime. Josh had a blast with Skye. At 11-years-old, Skye was very responsible, taking him to the warm ("pee") pool and going down some kiddie slides. In fact, Skye did a better job than I did because when Josh went down the waterslide with me, we went a wee bit faster than Josh and Skye did. So when we got to the bottom, Josh got freaked out by going under water and he was too scared to do some of the bigger slides after that! He still had loads of fun going down the smaller slides. When he went for his nap, Skye and I took the opportunity to go to the "big-kid" slides. We had some good old competitive fun on the inner tube slide and I had sore neck and shoulder muscles for a few days after to prove it!

It started raining late Saturday afternoon, but it cleared up long enough for us to have a campfire Saturday evening. It rained again overnight and into Sunday morning. The rain gave us a good chance to see how we would make out in the wet weather and all was OK! There wasn't much to do, but we weren't miserable and climbing the walls with boredom either!

Before we left on Sunday, we stopped at Dinotown. Josh quite enjoyed it, but, truthfully, I can see why it is closing forever on September 6th! I'm glad we went so we can at least say we went to Dinotown! Vangie took the photos at the water park and Dinotown, so there are none in the collage of photos at the end of this series.

Stay tuned for Part 2...

34 a, b, c, d, dd...

Yes, you guessed what this post is about! It's a bit of a revelation, actually. If you feel like you've never found the perfect-fitting bra, read on...

I had an opportunity to be sans kids on Saturday, so I took that opportunity to go bra shopping and FINALLY get a proper bra. I just finished nursing (for the last time!) a few weeks ago, so I thought it would be a good time to start back into "normal" bras.

I was told that there was a store on the west side of Vancouver that did the best bra fittings. I was skeptical. I mean, how much more could I get a bra to fit me, right? But in the world of shopping, I'm willing to try anything once! So off I went...

It was difficult to find the store because my girlfriend knew where the store was but she couldn't remember the name. So, I wandered into the store called Bare Basics Lingerie on West 10th Street and hoped for the best.

And it was the best. Seriously, I can't believe that I have never been wearing the right bra! Not to get too technical, but I have never been able to wear a bra so that the intersection in the middle of the chest actually rests on my chest. I've tried going up and down the band scale and up and down the cup scale and I've never had a bra rest nicely in the middle of my chest. So, I just resigned myself to the fact that the bra didn't have to rest right on my chest, as long as it was close.

Well, it turns out that I just hadn't found the right bra! Not only do you have to wear the proper-sized bra, but you also have to find the RIGHT bra. Period. So, all these years I've been trying on or wearing all these bras - WonderBra, Warner's, Maidenform, Jockey, Triumph, Victoria's Secret, La Senza, La Vie en Rose, Calvin Klein, etc. - it wasn't that I wasn't wearing the right-sized bra. It's just that they didn't have a bra that actually fit me! Is that possible?! All those brands and sizes and NOTHING fits?! Well, I guess so, because Bare Basics lingerie carries a line of bras that actually fits me! And it only took them 2 tries to find that perfect bra for me!

What is this miracle bra brand, you ask?! It's a French company called Empreinte. The ladies at Bare Basics say it's their best-selling bra. And I know why! BTW, I would give you a link to the Bare Basics Web-site, but they don't have one yet. Quite a shame as I would highly recommend them.

So, all this missing out on the perfect bra for so long...there must be a catch, right? There IS a catch. And it's a biggie. I wanted to get a whole collection of these bras, but at that price, I settled for one for now. And if you are wondering how I could spend that much money on a bra, let me stress to you that I have NEVER had a bra fit me properly until now!

And the worst part is that now I have a bra that fits me, I'm not sure that I can just "settle" for other bras again. I envy women who are perfect 34B's and C's or whatever the cookie cutter build is for each size! Because I'm not. And for that, I pay the price. Literally.

toddlerhood

You may have noticed in previous blog posts that Aves is standing (and she's walking too!). I know I'm a bit slow on the posts these days, but despite missing the blog entries, we HAVE been capturing the moments!

Since she started crawling at around 9 months old, Aves never really showed interest in standing or cruising. She preferred crawling or being carried! Well, out of the blue, she started pulling herself up and standing on her own at the end of April. She would pull herself up, take one or two steps and fall down. However, when she wanted to really move, she would still get down on all fours and crawl.

The video below was taken on May 13th. At this point, she was taking several steps at a time and she was discovering that walking may just be faster than crawling. That transition from crawling to walking happened SO quickly!

So now, we pretty much have a toddler on our hands. She is quite stable, despite her teeny, tiny feet, but there tends to be alot of falling over and tears as a result of Josh's mischief and Nikita's overactive tail!

In the last couple of days, she has discovered independence (ugh!). She has been testing me by wandering off when we're out and making me chase after her. She will even walk away so I'm out of her eyesight! I'm shocked, given that she is pretty attached to me. I guess Mommy is the one that has to learn to start letting go...

Anyway, here's the video from May 13th. Oh yeah, and you'll notice she can say "Mama" really well, too, but with ALOT of coaxing...

hyack

This past Saturday, we went to the Hyack Festival Parade. I've been trying to take the kids to a parade for the longest time, but it always seems like parade start times coincide with naps - many start around 1:00 or 2:00pm. Either that or the weather isn't ideal for standing outside on the street.

The Hyack Parade started at 11:00am, so it seemed like perfect timing. Unfortunately, the weather didn't co-operate on Saturday, but we threw caution to the wind, sported our rain gear and headed out anyway. Because at this rate, the kids will be adults before they ever see a parade!

I also haven't been to a parade in ages. We went to the Chinese New Year parade a couple of years ago, but we only caught the tail end of the parade and Josh was too little to understand anyway. So, this was essentially Josh's first parade. He loved it. He watched the whole thing, quite entranced by it all. He liked that he got handouts, like a rubber bracelet from the Army, a Canadian flag and, the best part (!), a couple of lollipops!

Aves wasn't too interested, though. I carried her in the baby carrier, so she couldn't see much anyway. She liked the music, but that was about it.

It wasn't a bad parade - not that I'm a connoisseur. Here are some of my thoughts on the parade:

- The American floats outdid the Canadian floats. I'm guessing that Americans love their parades because every American float was good. We had the occasional nice float that caught your attention, but we also had groups of people walking down the street holding a sign. Like, really, what is the point?!

- Glee music is the theme du jour for marching bands. Aside from the usual parade fanfare, Glee music was all we heard from the marching bands. Not that this is bad - if you like Glee. I, for one, love the show!

- Cannons on a parade float should not be allowed to be continually fired throughout a parade. Especially when the route is lined with buildings on which the noise reverberates.

- Since when did a city's engineering department vehicles become parade-worthy?!

- I like parades. We need to go to more - it's a nice family outing. Especially if the kids like them, too!

camping, glamping or something in between

We didn't go "glamping" in it's truest form, but we definitely did not go camping either! I guess we did what is known as "RV'ing". During the Victoria Day long weekend, we went on the inaugural camping trip for our trailer and, in a word, it was fabulous! Mind you, we're coming from a 1964 tent trailer, so our new 28-foot trailer seemed a bit extreme. But, believe it or not, in the RV world, our trailer is "entry level"!

In any case, we had a fun-filled, luxurious camping trip. We decided for the inaugural trip, we would keep things simple and make sure we had all the amenities. So, we headed across the border to the KOA in Burlington.

Firstly, I have to say that I can't believe we waited so long to get a Nexus pass! After the long weekend, the news reported that border line-ups were not as long as they've been in the past. However, the line going south was at least a couple of hours on Friday afternoon and about an hour going north on Monday afternoon. That is still 3 hours of line-ups that we avoided with our Nexus card. Furthermore, we did not have to scan the radio stations to listen for border wait times and schedule our trip around the border. We simply went when we wanted to!

Anyway, back to the trip - we arrived at the campground early Friday afternoon and immediately set up. It was so quick and painless that Brian and I were actually sitting at the picnic table asking each other, "That's it?!". It was really THAT easy.

The campground had a park, an indoor pool and a great off leash pet area for Nikita to run. Josh had a blast and even Avery loved to explore the gravel and grass area at the foot of our trailer (she's our resident gravel eater!). And, surprisingly ideal, there was a "camping superstore" in Burlington where we went on Saturday morning to finish stocking up the trailer. When do I EVER get to go shopping on a camping trip?!

We had planned to do a couple of things, like take a ferry trip to the San Juan Islands, but the weather didn't really co-operate that weekend so we mostly hung out at the campground. The park, the pool and taking Nikita for walks proved to be more than enough entertainment for the kids. Josh especially liked the proximity of the other campsites. He felt very comfortable going up to other campsites, introducing himself and asking what people were doing! He made friends with a couple of kids at the park and managed to stay out of trouble for the most part.

The kids slept great in the trailer, too! We had to make strange sleeping quarters because I was worried that putting the 2 kids in the same space, they would disturb each other. So, Avery slept in her playpen in the front of the trailer and Josh slept in the top bunk at the back of the trailer and they were both fine. On Sunday, they were both so tired out by naptime that they both had 3 hour naps through the afternoon! It's true what they say about the fresh air...

On our last day there, we managed to make a visit to Lang's Horse and Pony Farm. Our original intent was to get Josh on a pony ride. At the Queensborough Fall Fair last year, we asked Josh if he wanted to go on a pony ride and he said no because they were "stinky". We asked him this time and he said yes. When we got there, Josh gravitated to the horses. We kept pushing the ponies, but he insisted he wanted to ride a horse. I totally thought when he got on top of the horse he would freak out and want off. No such luck. So instead of getting a pony ride, Josh got a horseback ride!

We didn't get many pictures of the weekend, but here are some that we did get...

Bedtime milk on the couch in the trailer

Swinging in the park

"Keep pushing me, Mommy!"

Our set-up, complete with Aves exploring

Roasting marshmallows by the campfire - Josh was actually quite afraid of the campfire and preferred the raw 'mallows. Jon and Caroline came up from Seattle for a day visit. We couldn't believe that Caroline has never roasted marshmallows over a campfire before!

Caroline tries to perfect the marshmallow roast and even makes some smores!

Josh puts on a helmet to prepare for his horseback ride (nice sign!)

"Look, Mama! This is Otis."

He looks so small when he's up so high!

How toddlers sleep on the trip home from a camping weekend

How pre-schoolers sleep on the trip home from a camping weekend

5 days and skinny

OK, that title is completely misleading! I haven't gotten skinny in 5 days...trust me.

I haven't posted in a month because things have been CRAZY going back to work. If you've talked to me, you know what I mean. Anyway, I had to take a second to post a couple of thoughts:

1. Skinny jeans are going to be the death of me.

2. I started a new job this week and this is my first 5-day work week in about 3 1/2 years. Ugh. I'm exhausted!