Bare sole

While at the beach this week, we saw quite a few preschool aged children. Some out with parents , others with Grandparents. And others, well sadly for this child, it was difficult to tell who she was with.

At first, we just thought she was with this young family. I wasn't really paying attention. I just thought she made a cute photo in her bright pink sweater and bare feet. Although the air was mild and sunny, reaching 12c, the water and wet sand were still cold enough to make bare feet ache in a few seconds. But when she turned and began walking back along the beach, the family I had assumed she was with, didn't join her or react.

It became apparent at this point that she had wandered away from her family. She was looking around in an obvious effort to spot her people. She seemed calm and unconcerned. She passed us and about a 100 yards further, came up onto the grass where she eventually approached an older woman, perhaps her Grandmother, who looked frantic as she pushed a stroller with a small boy sat in it. Grandma was so upset that she began shouting at the top of her lungs telling her off for not staying near by. All the little girl said was "I came back to get my shoes".
This beach is between a busy train track and an ocean, not the safest place for such a small child to run freely. Not to mention all the people, you just never know when there are perverts and weirdos around! No wonder the Grandma was beside herself. She could hardly chase after her on the sand with a baby in the stroller. This little girl seemed quite taken back by her grandmas upset state. They just don't realize how easily they can come into trouble. Having had a couple of panic attacks when my own little ones wandered off briefly, I can certainly relate to Grandmas consternation! They were probably only separated for 15 minutes at the most. But we all know how quickly things can happen, and it must have seemed like an eternity to her Grandma.
Have your little ones ever given you this kind of fright?

Skywatch

Sunset on the sea at White Rock,B.C. Just south of Vancouver..

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ABC Wednesday - B

Boy feeding the birds at a beach in British Columbia. To view more contributions to ABC Wednesday please click on this link http://www.abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/

Date Day

"That would be a Rio Tinto train, full of coal, headed to one of our terminals." Yes, even when he is away from work, he cant help but inspect a passing train. At least there aren't any freighters visible on the water here, or they would be up for analysis too. You can take the cargo surveyor out of the terminal but you cant take him out of the man! I guess it is no different than me mentally diagnosing people that we pass!
It's been ages since we had a DATE.
A day out with just the two of us. I find We need to have these time outs, away from everything, in order to reconnect.
The holidays were so full of family, visitors and parties, which is wonderful. We realize how blessed we are to have such a huge close family and so many awesome friends.

Sometimes though, we just need time to be alone. to get back to being 'us'. When we woke up to a beautiful sunny day, we snuck off to White Rock for our date.

There is a mystical feeling to this place. No matter what the weather, the light here is always amazing.

Combine that magical light with the musical sounds of the sea, the lapping of the waves, the cry of the gulls, and you have a little piece of heaven.

Along the pier, there are water valves, for fires I suppose. This pier once burned down years ago. It is a gorgeous promenade and is a well known feature of this community.

Its hard to tell where the sea ends and the sky starts. The peninsula on the left is Washington State, in the USA. The border is just minutes away from here.

Keith is currently on his two week stint as supervisor. A job which he can do a lot of the work from home, thanks to computers, cell phone and fax machines. So although we had escaped the house, he still had to answer the phone when he got calls from work. But I get to see more of him than when he does his two weeks on sight. Whenever he got a call, I just busied myself taking pictures.

We spent hours on the beach, and rounded the day off with dinner at Keith's favorite Greek Restaurant, right on the beach. We wont wait so long for our next day out. We really enjoyed ourselves. I cant wait for another day like this.

This is what it's all about!

This is what makes it all worth while. An opportunity for us to spend an evening as a family and with friends having a great time in good company.

Not the most enthusiastic Macarena Men you will have seen! A young man does have to maintain ones cool image you know. Click to watch this clip!

Tonight, my nieces, Lexie and Jocelyn were installed into their new positions in their girls group, Jobs Daughters.

The installation of officers is held twice a year. After installation, the real fun starts. It is always a family event. Its so nice to see all ages, from tiny tots to Great Grandparents all together having fun.

Part of the excitement is the dressing up and the dance. We got Lexie a new dress for Christmas. It is her first full formal gown. She really looked like a proper young lady tonight. Her brothers were both along for the fun as well.

Lexie is so tall now at about 5'5", so you can imagine how tall these brothers of hers are now! They grow almost as quickly as their HAIR!

Jocelyn was proudly wearing the poncho that her Grandma knit her for Christmas. Here, she shows off glow in the dark jewelery.

Lexie was very excited about dancing.

Slightly more enthusiastic than her brothers, on the floor she shows off some of her moves! She was a couple of feet above the ground here in a full out jump! Did I say something about a proper young lady? Once the music started, she left and this crazy dancin' chic showed up in her place!

Of in a quieter corner, more serious discussion ensues...."Anyone know how the Canucks did in tonights game?"

Actually, we wasted the Chicago Blackhawks...5-1. WoooHooo!

ABC Wednesday - A

Alezandro the Abstract Artiste. We met this fellow on our summer holiday in Old Quebec City. We bought one of his colourful pieces which now hangs in our home as a momento of our time there.

See more ABC Wednesday entrees by clicking on this link http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/2010/01/abc-round-6.html

My World Tuesday.

The past two days have been slightly wet. But for the most part, the past week has looked like this. Misty, wet and muddy! Yuck! No matter how horrible the conditions, the dog is always game for an outing!
With the winter Olympics only a month away, we are hoping it cools down enough for some fresh snow in the mountains.
My World is featured on Tuesdays and is hosted by http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/ Where you can go to see other contributors from all over the world.

Macro Monday

Its been a real long time since I did a Macro Monday Photo. This was taken in the summer.

I thought I would start getting back into some of the photo theme days again, as a way to get my lazy but out with my camera more often. Obviously by using an old picture for today's submission, I am defeating the purpose! But hey, I just thought this up .

So next is ABC Wednesday. A new round is starting this week, so it makes a good time to get back at it. Hmm now to think of a subject beginning with A!!! Hopefully it wont be a shot of an ARREST! Referring to my last post. Yes they are still out there! OK, time for me to get to bed.

Cops

Are we under surveillance? There has been a police cruiser parked in front of our house for a few hours. The officer is sat in there with his head lights on. At first I was thinking "Oh my God, He's come to tell me that my husband has been in an accident". Even with that thought in mind, I ran around and straightened up a bit, picked up the shredded dog toy, hung up the coat that was slung over the banister, moved a couple of mugs off the coffee table. If a policeman is gonna come in, I want the place looking presentable.
The doorbell rang, the dog started barking and all the kids came to the hall, while I opened the door. No one was there. The officer was still in his car. They all started laughing at me. Heidi had just rung the back door bell to get us all going.
Then Keith called home to say hi, so I knew he wasn't laying dead on some highway after all! So then what could that police car be doing there?
Jokingly I asked the kids "OK. Who's been up to no good today? You may as well confess, coz the fuzz is here for you now!"
Then Andrew was getting really nervous. He and a buddy went canoing up in the provincial park today. While there, he tested how sharp his axe was by felling a small tree. (Tree huggers not to worry, its a dense forest). He knows it is illegal to cut down trees in the park, but how could they know, nobody else was around at the time the offence was committed! I told him that must be it, they had come for him and did he have any last requests for dinner, before he get hauled off to serve his life sentence.
But still no knock at the door. Then we started watching a movie. Our TV is mounted on the wall. When the curtains are open, the screen is easily seen from outside. So, we provided the coppers with some entertainment anyways. Half way through the film was a bit of a smutty scene. I said "Oh my God, Now the cops are going to think we are watching a porno! We were splitting our sides laughing at the thought. Heidi said, we should shut the curtains. But I said No, that would look too obvious, then we'd really be in trouble. When the movie started it said 18+ and Troy's not 18 yet. Ill be charged with degradation of a minor, and they will haul Troy off to live in a foster home.
About four hours later, Andrews curiosity got the better of him and he went out to the car. "Oh my God, He's not gone out to confess has he?!!!"
He came in and they told him not to worry, it was not anything to do with our household and there was no eminent danger.
So then speculation began about which one of our neighbours could be mixed up in something bad.
Part of me says, we'll be safer sleeping tonight with the RCMP parked at our door. But the nosy side of me will be straining for sounds. Hopefully there won't be any gunshots or car chases in the middle of the night. Keith is on night shift. Hopefully they wont jump him when he gets home all blackened with coal.!!

Birthday Bowl

This gorgrous cake was specially made for the birthday of one of our little neices.
Her party was held at the bowling alley. Don't you love those high stylin shoes?

After the shoes were laced up, the fun began.


It was ten pin bowling, and those huge bowling balls pose a daunting challenge for the older girls.

But they managed to knock down more than a few pins.

Some had quite good form before they plonked that ball down on the lane!

However, the little sister of our birthday girl needed a hand from Dad to even pick up that big ball.

With his assistance, she got that ball down the lane.

She was quite proud of her performance.

Happy Birthday Young lady!

Girls Day Out

Today I took my neices Lexie and Natasha on a girls day out. Jocelyn couldnt make it due to other commitments. She missed out on a really fun day!

First we stopped at Timmies for a snack. The girls had matching snacks to go with their matching hoodies!
Then we got together with some of our Jobie friends to make a scrapbook of all the previous terms events.

On our way home we stopped at the side of the road to take photos of this small lake at sunset.

Do these girls look cold? I'll say!

Do they look happy?

Family Portrait

Belatedly, here is the photo I wanted to post for Christmas and new years.
You know, one of those "From our Family to yours" type of things?
Heidi David
Andrew Keith Me
Binzen


I haven't had a professional family portrait done since Heidi was about 6 months old. That one was done at K Mart where you got 80 prints for $14. I don't like The stiff and posed quality of studio portraits.
So, here we are, stiff and posed in our own backyard.
It is so hard to get everyone together at the same time. We planned this day, then David was suffering with the flu, but he still joined in with his 102 temperature. I had already raked the leaves, so I scattered a few around the chairs for that autumn look! I wanted to have that red tree in the background. I had the camera on a tripod with the timer set. So for the six pictures I took, I was running back and forth to my seat! Also, because I didn't want my glasses on for the photo, I couldn't see how the pictures were turning out! Nor did I notice the wrong ISO. I had it set to 400 on a bright day! That's why our faces are so white! And my hair too! Actually, after this was taken, I made up my mind to put some colour in my hair! The best looking one of the bunch was the dog! He always makes a good photo!
In spite of the gimped up photographer, I love how it turned out and have an 8x10 on the wall!

Lees Last Day

Yesterday was Lees last full day here.
We went out for a nice stroll in Golden Ears Park, a short drive from home. Here are a few pictures.

Here we are at the park gate for the must have touristy snap!
This next photo is for may dad AKA Outhouse Capital of Canada, to add to his vast collection of Outhouses!
It was a mild day with the sunshine, but still a snapp of cool in the air. We were all bundled in sweaters and gloves, however Lee was fine in a tshirt. Shes a little heater machine!
With all the snow in Great Britain, she is even wondering if she will get home today. Her flight is already delayed four hours. At least when she does arrive to a foot of snow, she wont need to worry about feeling too cold!