At the aquarium...

Happy Birthday!

Can my baby really be 2? I guess he is tall enough... Brandon, meet your cake.

Here we are!

It has been a while, so hopefully I can get Brandon's blog updated and a lot more current than May 29th. Which I am sheepishly admitting too.

Where does the time go? It flies. Indeed. Balancing a career, home, and maybe even life and a smidgen of selfish time is a tricky balance - as is getting a few dates in with my husband! Which we are slowly getting better at doing! We have been out to a few movies! And we are going to see Spamalot on Saturday... to say that I am excited, well, that is an understatement.

Brandon is getting closer and closer to two! I haven't weighed him in a while, and I am sure that he is over three feet tall. He is working on his two year old molars (there are a lot of four letter words to describe the joys of teething, but I won't bother you with them right now) and he talks up a storm. He is really, really close to taking off as a runner, and is getting closer to that milestone every day. Yup, a little late on that mark, but he is getting there.

Brandon is a charmer (yes, I am biased, I am his mother after all) and is a lot of fun to hang out with. Man, does he talk though. I didn't really conceptualize how many words he would have before he was two, but talk, and sing, and well, just come up with the "darndest" things already. He travels well, loves being outside, we chase Canadian geese on a regular basis, and he rocks my world. What else is a parent to say about their kids? We have fun, and we enjoy spending time together, and Brandon loves to read together, and play in the sandbox, and he is growing like a weed and changing all the time. It is a grand adventure this thing called parenthood. Welcome to the club eh? It's like something you feel like you are playing at in the beginning - a total rookie, and then you wake up one day and it is natural, and you are the one whom is giving other people advice. Crazy stuff this circle of life.

So, it is catch up time - looking forward, looking back, take a peek at some of the older pages, they are probably only moments, or maybe days old as I catch up over the next few days. Especially now that more friends are having babies, and don't always live close, those pictures mean the world to be able to look at, and share at least a little bit of what is going on in their worlds.

It has been a crazy year - I can't believe I am at job #3. I miss my old friends from work, and even though I have been too busy to drop a line, it doesn't mean I don't remember. It has also been cool for me to move forward, and experience new challenges, and carve a new niche out for myself, so as much as you leave behind, you also bring forward with yourself.

Great for sandcastles...

Egads. It almost looks like Brandon has a mustache! To me it looks like a good time at the beach. As does this great big hole we dug. Mission accomplished. Fun at the beach.

Just discovered the joys of popsicles

Up until Friday night, well in to the throws of teething, Brandon finally discovered the joys of eating Popsicles. As you can tell, it didn't take him long to master this new talent.

Life at the park

Now when we go to our local park and small lake, it takes about an hour to cover 1 km.

We have to stop and feed the duckies. When the Canada Geese had babies, it was an amazing experience. Now there are baby duckies and they are even cuter, and a little more cautious which is nice to see.


We've noticed this beautiful goose - snow goose, or albino Canadian Goose, that is the question.

This year, Brandon will not go on the swing. He screams if you put him in it. Now the slide, that is a totally different thing all together. He lurves the slide. Up and down, up and down. For the longest time he was going down on his belly backwards.. he is just starting to turn himself around and go down on his belly!

23 months old today. Wow. I am that close to having a two year old. What happened?

Still not sure about being in a boat

We went out for a lovely boat ride around Bowron Lake. Brandon seemed to enjoy it more this year, but on his terms. He didn't want to sit next to Ken or I, and wanted to be on his own chair, holding on to the side of the boat, doing his own thing. It took him a while to relax, but he started to get the swing of this boating thing!

The boys and a fish...

Three cool cats and the poor rainbow that didn't make it.

Chillaxing and throwing rocks. Does it get any better?

Getting used to life at the cabin...

Just a random shot that I thought was cool of the two of us..

Ken and Brandon, hanging on the porch.

Getting ready to throw some rocks. Or sticks. Or both.

Guess who really lurves the slide?

Mom looks a wee bit goofy

Ah, the sweet songs of spring

So cute when they are young, eh? Brandon loves feeding the duckies!

I was really surprised, mom and the goslings all came up to eat some of the seed that we brought, mom wasn't even all that defensive with us... seemed to trust our good intentions.

Chilling in da pool

Hangin with Uncle Kel

One of those quick snaps..

Must we?

Mom, do you really need to do this to me on a semi-regular basis??

I really have no clue why I find the tub shots amusing...or just messing with his hair...

"gardening"

Here I am! Helping mum out... LOL

It's all about the dirt. Moving it around. Getting it down my shirt!

Hanging with the rellies

Yup, Auntie Sue is pretty 'spesh!


Another little toy to get underfoot! Brandon loves little figurines to play with - he has a whole troop that includes ducks, giraffes, cats, dogs, pigs, elephants, lions.. the whole zoo!


With Gramma and G'G'

Parksville...

I guess that Mother Nature did not get the memo that Spring has Sprung.
This is what we woke up to for our day at the beach in Parksville. Needless to say, when life hands you lemons...

Yup. So cute. Totally biased.

Ok, so maybe the memo got out a few hours later.. in a little place called French Creek we wandered in to this really cool fresh fish store and got the fixings for a seafood pasta.. NUMMY! Talk about one extreme to the other, eh?

The Inner Harbour