A party in pictures

You can see the wheels turning. Here I am, in the middle of the backyard, eating a few honey grahams, and wondering what all the fuss is all about. I am all dressed up.... why??? The calm before the storm!! We celebrated Brandon's First Birthday with family and friends, and apparently our collective pleas to the weather gods was successful because a dark and gray morning turned in to a beautiful afternoon with lots of sun, but enough clouds to keep it from being way too hot.

Some family and friends...

More family and friends...

And even more family and friends...
(apologies for anyone missed in the pan shots)

A fabulous cake, we almost had leftovers... until Brandon did the famous "pull on the table cloth trick" and well, the last slice of cake ended up doing a slow motion slide to the ground, at which time all three dogs present make their respective dives for the icing before their 'rents started to panic and rein them in! Brandon felt very blessed to be surrounded by so much love, and positive attention! He was charming everyone with smiles and affection.

Brandon is a total pro when it comes to eating cake! He makes a superior mess, and even manages to get some in his mouth too!!!

By the time Brandon was done with his cake, we needed to take the hose to both him and the high chair. It was great fun!!! His friends Amber and Leah also got in to their cake :D

Thanks to Brandon's loved ones for making this such a wonderful way to turn 1, whether it was through well wishes by phone, through loved ones, or by being there in person, we are feeling the love!! THANKS!!!!

A diva

There is just something I really love about this photo...

Officially One.

Just a few moments before Brandon went all Braveheart on us, mixing the blue and white icing all over his face like paint. He looked great. He had the icing in his ears, up his nose, all through his hair. We were proud. What better way to turn 1 than making a fine mess and eating your cake too!!! We had a great dinner with the grandfolks and Uncle Kelly, and rung in Brandon's first year with style.

a whole year young!

Well, Brandon is officially a year old today. Wow. Where has this last year gone??? Brandon is doing awesome - he is cruising and pulling to a stand (not walking yet, perhaps in the next month), has 7 teeth, is just over 33 inches tall, almost 28 pounds, and he has a fabulous personality. Yes, I am completely biased, but he doesn't cry all that much, he is generally pretty happy, and he is fun to be with. This has been a great year, and we have seen and done a lot. Of course, reaching that year milestone means I am going back to work next week, which equals lots of changes and better overall time management (like doing the dishes every night.. LOL). I am grateful that although I am working 5 days a week, it is only 3 "days" a week, with 2 nights... so Brandon isn't in full time daycare which is important to us.

I am going to have to figure out a new monthly milestone picture... trying to get Brandon to pose with Tigger is getting more difficult because Brandon doesn't want to sit still. Rapid fire on the old digital helps, but he is getting really quick and is curious, so rather than sitting still for a picture, he would much prefer to be out and about, discovering whatever he can!

On this island...

It has been a busy month, this month of July!!! We are squeezing in as many adventures this summer that we can!! Here we are at Mile 66 along the Cowichan River...

Coming home!

Keeping up with the theme of stopping to smell the roses, Brandon and I stopped at Goldpan Provincial Park.. a little more north from Skihist. Here we had a snack, and Brandon shoved a good portion of a raspberry strudel in his mouth.. heading home after a good holiday always feels great. When we got home, spent a great afternoon with Ken until Brandon's 7th tooth decided to make a fairly miserable entrance in to the world with a bit of teething.

Waterfalls

The five of us went further afield today, and explored the waterfalls between Canim and Mahood lakes, just on the outskirts of Wells Gray Provincial Park This is Brandon and I, overlooking the portion of Canim Falls that is on the right hand side of this next photo. Gotta love having a timer option because this was about as close as I wanted to get to the edge...

One of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever been to!!

This is all five of us in front of Mahood Falls, almost as pretty!
A better shot of Mahood Falls, without us wonderful folks as a distraction...

I love the lake!

Over the last few days out in the Cariboo, Brandon has discovered that he likes being in lakes!!! He may start out like a cling on, but once he relaxes, he is good to go! Green Lake has been a total surprise just how pretty it is. Apparently, Green Lake is a top 10 vacation destination in Canada according to a local radio station. I am not sure of the truth of that statement, but I can tell you that it is the perfect swimming lake - shallow and warm, more or less a sandy bottom with a few bigger rocks thrown in for good measure, not that busy, big, green, and scenic. It takes your breath away and makes some of the other area lakes pale in comparison!

Exploring the South Cariboo

checking out Green Lake for our first swim in a lake...

hard to get Brandon to look up at me because of the sun in his eyes...


and a quick snap out in Jen's front yard...

Hitting the highway... heading north

Brandon and I went out on our first road trip together. Since I am still on my maternity leave, and Ken's holidays and just about done, I figured it was time to hit the road and go visit one of my bestest and dearest friends, Jen and her Clan up in the Cariboo. Especially since a trip like this is more about her and I catching up and watching all our boys interact than anything else. On the way up, I wasn't in a really big hurry so it was nice to stop and smell the roses a few times. Bypassing Lytton, we stopped a few kilometers out in Skihist Park. It is right on the Thompson river, the views are quite stunning, and well, the bathrooms are fabulous - flush, not pit toilets for those that care.

back at Barnet ...

I think that this has become one of my favorite places to take Brandon for a walk. There is always something to see, never a lot of people, and beautiful. We had fun snapping a bunch of candid shots sitting out on the grass, overlooking Deep Cove and Indian Arm. Yes, we are more than little smitten with our son and take lots of pics!

Larrabee State Park

This weekend we ended up being fortunate enough to head south to Bellingham on a totally unexpected and unplanned vacation. The weather was great, and we spent time at a few of the local and state parks, and we packed a picnic lunch. Here at Larrabee, we were able to access the beach, and claim a corner for ourselves!