Okay, are you ready . . .

. . for possibly the longest post ever? Well, c'mon, I've got like 3 months to cover here! First, many apologies for leaving you all in the dark for so many months. Things have been so busy here, and it's a pace that likely isn't going to change anytime soon. I'm working on adapting so I can cope with the flurry of constant activity that is the norm around here. But I digress.

Every summer we look forward to a trip up to the cabin in Qualicum Beach. This year was no different. Mom and Al are busy building their dream home (though actually building it can at times be quite a nightmare!) and while they worked on that, we did what we always do at the cabin. Eat fudgesicles and slide around on the grass!











Hannah worked on her artistic style with a few portraits of her stuffed buddies.






Leif built a wooden tower (and then shot it down with his Lego cannon).



Ivy made a necklace for Grandma's birthday.



Hannah tried another money-making venture, opening her own Lego Exhibit in the livingroom.



We headed to Vancouver to celebrate Shona's Birthday at her Annual Birthday Extravaganza!! Each year guests must perform their gift for Shona, and this year our family blew the crowd away with our modern interpretive dance number.(Music is Pow Pow by LCD Soundsystem).

object width="425" height="344">

A trip to Vancouver in the summer is not complete without a visit to Splashdown Water Park and The PNE. Man have prices gone up!!! At the PNE, kit said he and Leif wanted to try a ride called The Revelation. I honestly had to stand there and decide if I was okay with the two most important men in my life going on a ride that I feared could kill them. It was insane. I stood below and watched them and felt sick to my stomach each time they went by. Here's a clip of what the ride is like. Ugh.

We also rode the Wooden Coaster. Well, actually, Shona rode it in my place. It is so weird to me that I rode all these rides with pleasure in my teens and 20's, and now I'm too afraid of heights to handle it. But we make a good team, our family. Kit hates spinning but not height, I hate heights but not spinning, so between the two of us we meet all the kids' needs. Here's a great clip of the World's Biggest Wooden Roller Coaster, and the screams of the guy riding it. Love it.

Back home, blackberry season was upon us, and that means it's time to make blackberry tarts. Yum!!



For reasons I don't recall, Ivy dressed up as a devil one day (note her fab John Deer pants, made by moi).

The kids 'dug' for fossils with this T-Rex kit.

the finished model. He now sits on the shelf above our stove, my own Kitchen God if you will.

And then, oh my god, it happened. Hannah turned SEVEN!

She made turkeyballs for her birthday dinner (spaghetti and meatballs and corn on the cob).



And her chosen dessert was the usual, Strawberry Shortcake.

When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said a suit, tie and top hat. Okey-dokey my love.



We gathered her buddies at the beach for a party. (She's the only summer birthday in the family, so we get as much summer in as possible!). The Dads got into the bay and helped them build a raft.



Then they set sail!



And she got her coveted Playmobil Ghost Pirates set, plus some vintage Star Wars figures, so all was well in her world.

We played some Qwirkle, a fun new game I am totally into. It makes my brain work hard and that's a good thing.




As fall approached the kids decided their stuffies needed pants. All of them.



Then in September soccer began once again. Leif plays on a new team this year, with a great coach.



Hannah has a great team this year, and is learning the point of holding her position. Go Hannah go!



This month we discovered the skate park across the bridge, and the kids are HOOKED!







I got in some knitting, this time working on a very delicate scarf for Susan's birthday. I love the vibrant colour.




The kids helped me with a dietary cleanse I did for a month. I'm sad to say veggie juice just makes me feel sick. But now I'm off sugar and gluten, and life is good!



And then we got ready to welcome a new fellow to the family.




We are so happy to introduce Bruce the cat. His name came from his foster home, and it suits him well in such a weird way.



He is a gorgeous black cat, very tall and lean.



To illustrate how big he is, here he is curled up asleep with Kit. Whoa!



Now that we are firmly IN fall, we look forward to our usual activities. We took a mushroom walk last week, with ID books and magnifying glasses.









We got out our Hallowe'en decorations. This year we made shriveled heads with peeled apples. They turned out SO cool!



And then last night much trick-or-treating was had. The Werewolf, Skeleton and Scooby-Doo had a great time, and after much candy gorging, woke up with colds. Yay.



We decided next year I'll trade them Lego for candy. Let's hope they still like that idea in 12 months.

Onward to November!

C

Can I get that in triplicate please?

Why yes, you CAN!



This is my third batch of raspberry cakes. We end up eating one of each batch when I make them, so there are only 6 in the freezer. Still, six, yay!

Speaking of food, the oddest things are up with me and the grub. I've already accepted that since I hit 30, weird stuff is up with my appetite. Wheat makes me feel sick, chocolate gives me headaches, some days all I want is fruit, other days I live on rice cakes. After 5 years of this I've decided it'll just be like this until I get near 40 and then some logic will come of all this. In all of this time, I've slowly been moving away from meat. You'll recall, I was vegan for my early 20's, then vegetarian after Leif was born. hen I gave in to my big chicken craving for about 4 years. But in all of that, I've said I just can't go back to eating red meat. It grosses me out, I have no desire to eat it, I can't decide if it's good for you or not. So on top of all my current food weirdness, guess what I ate for dinner last night?



What is going ON here? Tonight I ate more steak, the night before last I had pork. I think at this point I'm just going to wait for a sign from the heavens as to what my body needs. In the meantime, I'll eat whatever strikes me and continue to enjoy lovely outdoor bbq dinners with my darlings.

Hannah got up to some more face painting today with some friends. Yes, my dear daughter is the one on the left grasping a sharp stick. I believe her chosen moniker is Mr. Evil-Nasty.



I finally got around to changing our seasonal table to summer. Waves and boats and elves on the beach, oh my!



And I'm happy to say that I finally got around to trying out a sunhat pattern. When you have a head as big as mine, you need to make your own hats.



I'm happy with the results and ready to hit my next project.


What're you up to this week?

C

It's the most wonderful time of the year . . .

. . yeah, that's a Christmas song, but anyone with taste buds can attest that summer berry season is THE greatest time gastronomically-speaking. Hannah and I have been waiting for some sun to come and warm up the crops here on the island. Berries are definitely more expensive this year due to the huge lack of spring sunshine. Wine too.

After a trip to the farms today, to fetch raspberries and wine, I tried a recipe of Susan's that incorporates my fave berry and cake too. Yummy! Since I'm such a baking maverick I messed with the recipe, so I could add my fave chewy thing (oats) to this lovely moist berry cake.



If my grandpa were still here, he'd love this cake I think. he and I shared a love for Candy Cookies, a simple mix of oats, brown sugar and melted butter. I added oats to this cake and made candy cookie for the crumble top. It tastes divine! I hope to make a bunch tomorrow and freeze them for the fall. While it was tasty with vanilla ice cream, it's even better straight-up in the palm of your hand.

The water guns have inspired a cops and robbers/wild west situation around here. I've had to protect myself (and our badly damaged wood floors) by instituting a no-guns-or-wet-butts-in-the-house rule.





We had a lovely visit with Shona, Isla and Bryn this weekend. We took in the organic islands festival, a Hannah Georgas concert, biked for gelato and watched the World Cup finals together. Much face-painting, playmobil and paddle pool fun was had by the kidlets.

When they drove away Ivy cried for her pal Bryn.



Leif has surprised us with another installment in his comic series, Bob and Lob. It is awesome, as always! I love how he draws the same background for each frame, the same as the previous one, as it goes with the story. That he remembers such a detail. I think my brother used to draw comics as a young boy. And Leif's father used to draw comics for me, back in our courting days. Though I've dropped many a hint about how much I adored his little literary adventures, the courting days are over (boo hoo) and I think our comic exchanges are a thing of the past. Thank goodness our son can pick up the slack for us, cause we are too dang worn out!




And I don't know if this will stop soon, but Hannah's teeth are just bursting out of her mouth. Now she's a total jack-o-lantern, and we're forever getting her to repeat herself, because her lisp is so darned cute!




This week we have soccer camp, more ice cream walks and much baking and crafting on the menu.

C