What a great and fabulous weekend!! The weather was back to normal, not a cloud in the sky. And my Sister-in-Law made her first visit here from Vancouver in almost 5 years! We did see her in Vancouver 3.5 years ago but that was the last time. Hubby was quite happy that his Sister finally came this way and we had a great day yesterday catching up and watching the kids playing (and yes, kids includes Hubby).
A took the first two photos. He loves photography and wanted to try out the new lens on my camera. He has an SLR of his own, but it was at his Mom’s house and it uses film, so he doesn’t feel as free to goof around. When I downloaded the photos this morning I had to laugh at the 20 or so photos of the airplanes flying overhead. We live near the airport and he was trying to get cool shots of the planes landing. But truly he just got shots of the planes with a deep blue sky behind them.
He took a few of Hubby and J in the pool (I didn’t go in because my SIL didn’t want to and A didn’t go in because it isn’t cool). They were riding around the pool in circles which was rather cute.
The second photo is of one of our dogs, Cosmo. Cosmo is eleven and still such a good looking dog. He isn’t as fast as used to be and he is a little jaded by our adding to the family, first with Mickey (our other Dog) and next with J. Just wait until this baby arrives he will really feel put out.
Next we have J’s photos . J loves taking photos, I tried to give him my old point and shoot, but he prefers Mommy’s good camera. So I put the strap around his neck and hold tight to the back of the strap. He wanted a photo of the slide and the grass, not sure why, but that is what he wanted.
First the slide. Just the end tip as the zoom lens was on and that is as far away as he could get.
And second is the grass. Despite my complaining of the rain, it has been a stellar year for our grass. We went from dry brown grass this past spring (normal after winter) to lush full green grass. Probably the lushest we have ever had. We are attributing it to our weed n’feed and the fact that I was still watering even when there was no rain (back in June when it was actually hot and sunny every single day). And yes, the camera was set on auto-focus, but it is fun to see what J comes up with when he takes photos. They are getting more and more creative the more he takes (he just took one of the fireplace a few minutes ago). 
Maybe we will have a professional photographer in the house yet!
I feel so totally honoured. LVGurl has given me a blog award! This is my first actual award, so I am feeling the love for sure.
I have been tagged with the “Power of Schmooze Award”. The definition being,
Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly comments, happily making new friends along the way. 
It feels great to be recognized this way. When I first started blogging it was to ease the guilt of reading all the blogs I was reading without something to share. Then I started coming out of lurkdom and actually commenting. I like to leave notes or comments when I drop by because it’s nice to know someone is reading and appreciating what has been written. To be acknowledged for my comments is just icing on the cake. I think I finally found
LVGurl becasue I started to see that the two of us read quite a few of the same blogs, so I started to drop by her site and voila, I am now a regular reader.
So a special thank you goes out to LVGurl for noticing all my comments.
Here are the Schmooze rules:
* If, and only if, you get the Thinking Blogger Award or The Power of Schmooze Award, write a post with links that make you think, or have schmoozed you into submission.
* Link to this post and Mike so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
* Optional: Proudly display the “Thinking Blogger Award” or the “Power of Schmooze Award” with a link to the post that you wrote.
A little while ago, Kailani over at
An Island Life suggested and old fashioned gift exchange through snail yesterday (although it could have arrived Monday, but I forgot to check the mail box).
I was partnered with Lisa, from
Sew what’s up? and got set on putting my package together. Not sure if has arrived at it’s destination, so I will just tell you the wonderful things that arrived in mine.
Lisa put together a package of really cool things.
I have some Sunset Red Popcorn and some Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil dip from her local farmers market (mmmm… can’t wait to try the dip) and a car candle shaped like a lighthouse. The car candle smells very yummy and I think it will keep our car nice and fresh for a while to come (I knew there was something yummy in there because my post box smelled like flowers when I opened it).
In addition to these treats, Lisa included some seeds from her garden for Spanish Bluebells, complete with a photo! I have the perfect spot to plant them (along the side of my house that was just waiting for the perfect plant or flower). I am so excited.
Also included are some very beachy stickers that J was coveting, but I am going to find the perfect spot for them, most likely with a photo from the beach in a frame. There are also three sheets of alphabet stickers, complete in totally beachy colours. And to top it off Lisa included a coupon for a Gillette Venus razor, which is perfect beause my last razor bit the dust on our vacation and I need a knew one to keep these legs nice and smooth.
So thank you very much Lisa, it was really fun to receive my package and see all the wonderful treasures that were awaiting me on the inside.
And thank you Kailani for arranging the exchange.
