Captain Harrison!

While on our holiday in Chilliwack, we spent a day at a nearby resort town called Harrison Lake!







I told my little Harrison that the whole town, resort and Yacht Club were all named after him, which really impressed him! However, I do wonder what kind of therapy bill that will leave me with when he's older!?

My Uncle Dwight's brother-in-law owns a boat and keeps it at the Harrison Yacht Club and offered to take us out on the lake, so my Harrison could have a boat ride. So we headed out early on Sat Aug 19 before the water got too choppy to enjoy a ride across the lake. Not only did Harrison get the ride of his life, but he also got the thrill of his life when he got to drive the boat himself! I love this picture of him, he looks so little in the big life jacket! And pretty cute if I do say so myself!

It sure is beautiful around there. He took us to a hidden treasure that one would have to know about in order to find, called Rainbow Falls. It's a short hike from the beach into what looks and feels like a rainforest.


Everything is so green and lush, you can feel the moisture in the air around you before you even get to the falls. I love the sound of water crashing over rock like that and splashing into the stream below, where Harrison splashed in his bare feet in pure delight!

The next day, we went into the city and hung out in the New Westminster Harbour, where they have a mock-up of an old tugboat sitting on the dock for kids (and appearantly adults!) to play in and play "tugboat captain"! Well, we were lucky enough to have a real tugboat captain present, however, try telling him it's not a real tugboat! Here is one of my favorite pictures of Captain Ian at the wheel of the fake (yes captain, she's a fake!) tugboat, while First Mate Harrison struggles to take over the watch!

I am happy to report that the Captain handed over the wheel to the First Mate and it ended peacefully, without a full scale mutany! However, it was touch and go there for a few minutes!!! Notice the real tugboats tied up in the background of the picture. Harrison loved watching all the tugs going by, towing all kinds of interesting cargo up and down that Fraser River! He too thinks he'd like to try his hand at being a tugboat Captain someday. Ian, looks like you've got an apprentice!

We had a great holiday with wonderful weather and fantastic family and we cannot wait to do it again! Harrison kept calling it his "best holiday ever" and I'd have to agree!

Family Fun!

We arrived in Chilliwack BC on Thurs Aug 17 to a warm welcome at my cousin's country home! She has 3 boys ~ Coleman 9 yrs old, Riley will be 6 yrs old in Oct and baby Carson 2 yrs old. Harrison took to all those boys in no time, he jumped out of the car and was off playing before I could blink an eye! I immediately settled in too, chatting with my cousin Michelle and catching up on all the goings on in our busy lives. Before we could get too far into our chatter, my other cousin, Melissa (Michelle's younger sister) was at the door to join our cousin catch up time! My cousin Michelle is on my left in the picture and my cousin Melissa on my right, with her arm around Coleman. Soon my Dad's brother Uncle Dwight and his wife Aunt Marian came through the door with my Grandparents in tow! Hugs, kisses, smiles and giggles all around! We had such a great time, talking, laughing, sharing time together, remembering old times and creating new memories to be talked about next time we all gather together!

It was so great for Harrison to be able to spend time with his cousins and to get to know a part of his family that he doesn't see much. Here he is with Coleman in the middle and Riley on the left. Not only does he get along with them, he looks like he could be their brother!!! It's fascinating to see those family connections play out from one generation to the next. He played with the boys like he was born to be there! On Fri, Michelle babysat for her cousin's 2 kids (on the other side of her family) To add to the chaos and confusion we had 6 kids running around, adults coming and going, one dog and four chickens to contend with! Harrison had just as much fun playing with Sam the dog and feeding the chickens, as he did with all those kids! It warmed my heart to see him playing with his cousins and fitting in, finding his place and having fun. He seems so grown up to me now! We had such a great time at Michelle's hanging out and being reunited, like one big happy family!

We then spent the weekend with my Grandma and Grandpa Moore (seen in this picture with Great Grandson number 3 out of 6) at their little condo which backs onto a beautiful park in downtown Chilliwack. The park has a big fountain in the centre of a pond, full of lily pads, frogs, turtles and where many ducks and geese also call home. It was nice to be able to take Harrison right out the back door to run and play and feed the ducks bread. It allowed him the chance to blow off some steam, while allowing me the opportunity to keep my sanity, as I worried about him getting too rambunctious (I don't know how to spell that word!) if I were to keep him cooped up in a condo for too long! Those of you with boys know what I'm talking about! Here is my little man feeding the ducks at sunset. It was so nice to spend so much quality time with so much family. Too bad holidays have to end, but not without more adventures, so be sure to stay tuned....

On Our Way Out West!

Where has the summer gone?! I thought I'd have more time to catch up on household projects, like post more entries on my blog! But, alas, I've been busier this past summer than I ever was working all winter long! It's a wonder I had any time left for work! So here it is, the first installment of our summer holiday trip to BC. Since I have several pictures to post, along with some cute videos, I'll post them over a couple of entries, according to themes! So here is the first one....

We headed out for Chilliwack BC on Tues Aug 15, knowing it would take us a couple of days to drive there we took our time. We ended up spending 2 nights in Armstrong BC, in the northern Okanagan, about half way to our destination. It's beautiful there and the weather was hot and humid. We drove the No# 1 Hwy all the way there, and stopped at a beautiful rest stop in the Thompson Canyon, as seen in these pictures. It was really hot out and Harrison enjoyed getting out of the car and being able to have a picnic at a spot with such an amazing view!

He was so good in the car, with the small exception of the first night, approaching Golden BC, where he had a meltdown as I was driving down that awful and steep hill into town. For those of you that are familiar with it, you know exactly which hill I mean, and know how hard it is to navigate without a screaming preschooler driving you to distraction, as I wound my way around mountain curve after curve, through traffic and construction, down the side of the mountain! I was near ready to turn back and head for home! However, once I reached the bottom and we pulled into town, the worst was behind us and going back only meant driving through it again, so I pressed on! All the activities I had packed and planned for him sure helped, not to mention his personal DVD player, that I suggest any tired, travelling parent never (I repeat NEVER) leave home without!!! I'd rather listen to Finding Nemo and the VeggieTales theme song one hundred times over, than a cranky kid screaming from the backseat! I was very lucky in that I managed to travel mostly during his sleepy times as well, and as long as he slept, I kept driving! I am so happy that he travelled so well! There you have the story and a few pictures of the start of our adventure. Stay tuned to read more about what we did to keep busy and to see lots of pictures of the fun we had and family we reconnected with, as we headed out west!