Fun With Family

Well......another busy week closed this Sunday past.  It was filled with plenty of activities.

The saws came back out for more back yard works

We had some perfect outdoor weather. Another project I had wanted to accomplish involved removing the wood style edging along our back yard walkways and replace it with composite material.  Anything to curb long term maintenance is always on my agenda.  The ratty 1X4 boards were looking peaked.  The new composite give it an everlasting finished look.

A very good result.....I might add.

While our daughter is on business in Egypt and her husband, Trevor is busy with his business, Jeanette and I take Easton and Brie for two days each week; including a Thursday overnight.  We did two overnights last week, for good reasons, and it was fun to have our little visitors.  Also an 'on call'  firefighter, Trevor had some fire-hall activities to attend to, over and above his business.  Busy guy!

Brie was keen on taking a swim in the back yard pond so we had to keep a diligent eye on her every move.

Dipping her bare feet into the cold water made Brie understand why it would not be a good thing to swim there.  Easton is well versed on not playing in the pond too.  Whenever the little people are outdoors, either Jeanette or I are there too. 

It's always fun to ride over to the nearby park for some bicycling and sliding.

We did head over to the local park a few times.  Easton gets a thrill out of riding the great bicycle track there and Brie has a blast sliding down the two slides in the play area.  It is a good place to tire the two kids out.  By the time we get them back home, they are more than ready for a nice afternoon nap.

Nothing holds little Brie back.  She has lots of fun.

Brie could go down the slide hundreds of times.  By the time we leave the park, she has  burned off a lot of energy.   And energy is in high supply with this 15 month old.

We caught up to Easton who was trying his might to ride the complex bicycle obstacle course.

Brie chose to walk the bicycle washboard ramps.

Easton gave his bicycle a break and chose to walk up and down some of the higher obstacles.

Our son and his wife, Deni and Courtney, along with their 16 month old boy, Owen drove from Edmonton to the coast last Thursday.  The are visiting this area till their return this coming Wednesday.   Last Friday was a planned day out at the Vancouver Zoo.  Jeanette, along with Easton and Brie, met Deni, Courtney and Owen at the zoo.  And what fun they all had together.

I was slated for some very minor oral surgery on Friday so I did not go along on the zoo trip. Everyone had a great time there.

Jeanette with Brie and Easton at the zoo entrance.

Courtney, Deni Brie, Easton and Owen.

Waiting for the little zoo train to come by.

It seems that all little kids (big kids too) always enjoy a train going by or taking a ride.  Easton is especially enamoured with trains.

Nana with her three grand-kids:  Easton, Owen and Brie.

The little kids had a great time together.  Letting them loose proved to be great fun.  Playing in the gravel is more fun - so it seems - than looking out for wild animals in the enclosures. 

Brie and Owen are sharing some special time together.....and speaking their own language, so it seems.

Half the fun of a zoo outing is enjoying a snack outdoors.

Easton was quick to point out a camel.

Knowing that his mom is in Egypt for another four weeks, Easton was quick to point to a camel and let everyone know that his mom is in Egypt where there are a lot of camels.  Good fun!

Meeting our friends, Lorne, Mariette, along with daughter in law, Leane and her baby on White Rock beach.

We had last got together with Lorne and Mariette at a White Rock restaurant better than three weeks ago prior to their departure to South Africa.  Back from their holiday there (and with many stories to tell), we got together on Saturday, on the beach in White Rock, for a couple of hours of fun.

Our son in law, Trevor joined us once he was free from his activities.  We enjoyed a fine weather day on the beach.  And the battered fish and chips were good too.

Mother's Day breakfast in Fort Langley

Deni, Courtney and Owen had arranged a Mother's Day breakfast in Fort Langley on Sunday morning.  We sure enjoyed that.  It was a special way to treat Jeanette and Courtney to a Mother's Day treat.

A special Mother's Day gift from Courtney and Deni to Jeanette.  A special potted plant

If memory serves me well, this pot is filled with herbs.  It's another addition to Jeanette's special garden.

The special Mother's Day gift.

We had met our kids on motorcycle on Mother's Day Sunday.  After the plant presentation, Deni returned it to their vehicle before we left for a nice walk along the Fraser River in Fort Langley.  Being Mother's Day drew many other people to the local restaurants and the river side walkways.  Nice.

Owen wanted to change things up.  Tired of his stroller ride, he thought it was fun to ride on my back.  Giddy up Grand Papa!

Before leaving to meet our kids in Fort Langley, Jeanette got on the telephone to chat with her mom in Alberta.  Mary was in fine spirits.  I got on the phone too and we shared some nice chat.  Later in the day, one daughter, Darlene was dropping by Mary's long term care facility to take her on an outing.  Here is one of several photos we received during their outing.  

It seems that Darlene bought a goat for her garden. This one won't keep the grass short however.

Once Deni and Courtney were ready to take Owen back to Courtney's mom's home for his afternoon nap, Jeanette and I rode east and ended up in the resort town of Harrison Hot Springs.  It was such a beautiful day for a countryside ride.

En route on Highway #7 towards Harrison Hot Springs.

We did not spend a lot of time there.  We treated ourselves to a small ice cream cone before motorcycling back for home.  We had one planned stop, at Lepp's Farm, in Abbotsford, for some prized 100% grain fed Angus beef burgers.  We bought a package of ten - along with a few other food items - before riding the final 15 minutes to our home.  We were parked in our garage by 5:30 pm.  A nice Mother's Day indeed.

Today (Monday), Courtney, Deni and Owen are moving from Courtney's mom's home to ours.  That is only a 20/25 minute drive from there to here.  We look forward to their two night visit.  Come early Wednesday morning, they will drive back to Edmonton.

Oh....and that bit of oral surgery I spoke about earlier?  All is well but I feel as though I lost a back alley fight.  LOL  It's minor...really.  Just a tad tender during the healing process.

And that covers the activities from here for now.