Hallon

Kayaking Indian Arm

This past weekend, Patrik and I had planned a hiking trip up to Garibaldi Lake. Anna was heading over to mormor and morfar's for the weekend, and we were so excited to go on our first backpacking trip since well before having Anna. So on Wednesday after work, I jumped onto the ferry with Anna and headed over to Nanaimo.




We hung out with Josefin, Tim and Bella on Thursday.


It's so fun watching the girls play together, and Anna gets so excited by all of Bella's toys! One of the highlights of the afternoon (read with a sarcastic tone) was getting to spend an hour cleaning up a big tub of diaper cream that Bella got into when she was supposed to be napping. Diaper cream - water resistant diaper cream - over everything. Including Bella. Fun! Well, she sure enjoyed watching us clean it up anyway.

But, Anna managed to top Bella. She tripped over a ledge and fell. On my foot. This was good for Anna as it broke her fall. But the only problem was that the other thing it broke was my toe. Ack! What are the chances of breaking a toe just a day before going hiking for the first time in a couple of years?

Anyway, on with the thinking caps it was, and an equally good trip was decided on. Kayaking!


We managed to find a kayak to rent at the last minute and so we quickly swapped backpacks for dry bags, dried and tasteless food for lovely and luxurious food, and water was supplemented by a bottle of wine. And off we went.



On the first night, we camped on north Twin Island, and in the morning we woke up to blue bird skies.



And after a beautiful paddle, we wound up at Granite Falls campground. A late lunch of sill (pickled herring), potatoes, eggs, crisp bread and a beer left us feeling like we must be in heaven. This is after all part of the story of how Patrik and I fell in love - sill and the fixings on his boat in the Stockholm archipelago. Great memories...


We spent the afternoon reading in the sun, fishing (sort of), and on another delicious meal (why does food taste so much better outside?).




In the evening, a communal campfire was started. As luck would have it, there were some professional musicians at the campground that joined us around the fire, and who created an amazing atmosphere as they entertained us the whole evening long.

Although Sunday meant that the weekend was nearly over, it also meant that we got to see our Anna. We missed her, even while we had an amazing time.

PNE

It was the first weekend of the PNE this past weekend, and as has become a family tradition, we went. The first year we went, Anna was a couple of weeks away from being born. Last year she was nearly 1 and not quite walking. This year, our third, she is running around and totally engaged in everything. We had a blast.

We took in the barnyard...





the parade...


Patrik tried to win an iPod...


but instead won Anna this monkey that she's sharing the stroller with.



And we spent some time taking in the kids dancing on the Festival Stage. Anna picked up some new moves, and spent some time charming our neighbours in the audience with them.

A Hike up Seymour

We woke up Saturday to a perfect day for a hike. Not too hot, not too cold, but juuuust right. Seymour is such easy access and provides gorgeous views, so off we went.


We had a picnic on a little knoll, enjoyed all the more for the exercise that led up to it. Anna and I had a little conversation that went something like this:

me: "Anna would you like a jordgubbe (strawberry)?"
she takes a look at the jordgubbe, takes it from me and says: "no, hallon (raspberry)"
me: "jordgubbe..."
Anna: "hallon"
me: "jordgubbe"
Anna throws her head back to the sky and says: "NO, hallon!"

you get the idea... Blueberries and strawberries and raspberries are all "hallon" to her. Mamma just doesn't seem to get it...




And then, what's this...?


Talking on a cellphone, while on a hike? in the mountains? It was Sweden calling, so I guess we'll have to let it go this one time... :)

Happy Birthday Kate!

Or as Anna would say: "appy bertay do kayay"

Anna LOVES to sing the happy birthday song, so an actual birthday with actual cake was like heaven for Anna. Curt organized a beach barbecue for Kate's birthday, and many of her favourite people showed up to celebrate. There was lots of food...


cake...


...or at least an empty cake plate in front of Kate, and there were many baby bumps (Kate, Sam, and Emma, are all expecting, and Anna's baby bump is freshly gone as she has a little 2 week old), and of course there were kids running around and having a blast.



A couple of the dads headed down to the beach with a few kids in tow. Summer in the city. If you've got to be in a city in the summer, then this is one of the best places to be.





(An aside: Anna loves to sing appy bertay so much that she will take any excuse to sing it, in fact... when Anna, um... what should I call it...um... 'passes wind', let's say, we've been trying to teach her to say 'excuse me'. But, she is persisting with laughing and saying 'toot toot' when she does it. Last night she 'passed wind' and then proceeded to sing the appy bertay song to toot toot. Sigh... well, she's got a sense of humour anyway...)

Jess and Moose's Wedding

We spent a fantastic afternoon and evening celebrating Moose and Jess's wedding recently. It was held in Stanley Park, the bride arrived on an old-school bicycle along the Stanley Park seawall, it was a beautiful and hot summer day, and we danced the night away. We only had our small camera with us, which is taking terrible pictures at the moment, but this blog would be missing something if we didn't include this spectacular event.

Great times with my hubby...


old friends...

new friends...


and a happy couple. Thanks for including us in your wonderful celebration Moose and Jess!

Summer Holidays - Part VIII - Protection Island

No summer would be complete without some time spent on Protection Island, so that is where we headed for the last 5 days of our trip. We spent the first couple of days with mormor and morfar, who were waiting for us with a yummy dinner and cake to celebrate our wedding anniversary.


We thought we were already relaxed from our sweet coastal holiday, but Protection Island brought our relaxation to a whole new level.



Josefin and Isabelle came out and joined us one day, and the girls enjoyed the pool together. Anna let mormor play with her hair and she got her first braids - her hair is getting so long!



Mom and dad were kind enough to give us the cabin for the weekend, and our friends Curt, Kate and William came out to join us. Wa-wa was a recurring theme during the weekend, from the deck pool, to the beach on Protection...



...to a canoe trip out in the harbour...



...to the beach on Newcastle.

Anna and William also explored the upland part of the island, taking the baby for a walk, and enjoying the scooter that we scored from somebodies give-away pile.



And then it was time to head home.


On the way back to the car, we dropped Kate, Curt and William off near the ferry and were surprised by mom and dad showing up. Mom joined us for the boat trip to the car, and she and Anna got some good cuddles and laughs in.


Once home, all that was left to do was unpack the car - a bigger job than you might think!


Thank goodness for roof racks and roof boxes!

Our summer holidays might be over, but we have plenty of great memories and plenty of summer left to enjoy in the city.