Chilliwack Lake Holiday

The second week in July we enjoyed a family holiday - camping in the beautiful Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park, in a rented camper. When we arrived, we were greeted by this sign which we thought was funny, but later found to be quite true! 

This was our set-up - a 28' Keystone trailer...

 

The kids settled in quickly and were eager to sit around a campfire (we just had to find a Park Ranger first to buy firewood, which proved to be a challenge!)

Eventually we tracked the ranger down and Melissa got to roasting marshmallows!

Brody this first night had the hardest time adjusting to the new sleep situation... he goofed off for hours and hours :P

Day 2

Started with a breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup! 

Melissa & Daddy did some metal-detecting while Brody napped. Amazing how many bottle caps they could find around the camp site!

Brody after a long morning-afternoon nap, all rested up to go to the beach. (Just above where Brody is sleeping is Melissa's bunk bed - which she was very excited about sleeping in!)

We found a beautiful spot on the lake with a little bit of beach front with an amazing view of the mountains... the pictures don't do the scenery justice!

Brody was a little unsure of the water at first...

but took to digging in the sand...

Building a sandcastle...

Back at "home" hanging out while dinner is prepared...

Dinner-time!

Day 3

Playing the card game "War" while Brody had his morning nap...

Back at the beach, helping Dad metal detect...

Meticulous sand sifting produced an old turnbuckle fastener :)

Melissa horsing around in the water... she put on quite the show for me and the camera!

A night bike ride...

The path we took led us to this bridge...

Day 4

A favorite campsite pass-time for the kids, gathering forest floor treasures...

A playground the kids enjoyed playing at in the campsite...

Nana & Pop came out for an evening visit!

Pop took some family pics of us:

Behind us: "Paleface Mountain"

Day 5

Cool dude in his sister's "swa-kiss"

One of the many "chippies" that were scurrying around the site...

Our last visit to the beach, it was a bit of a cooler day and most of us were under-the-weather :(
The treasure hunt was on again!

Unearthed a beer can this time!

Us girls huddling under the towels to keep warm on the beach. 

A final picture of a good portion of the treasures that were found on this holiday... minus the few coins (I forget the final $ total, but it wasn't too significant - we still have a long ways to go to pay off the metal detector!)

Agrifair Train Ride

Living so close to the Agrifair is quite convenient... Melissa went 3 days this year! One day she went with Papa, another day we all went as a family, and the last day she went with Daddy and got all-day ride passes. 

Melissa took Brody on his first fair ride, a train ride... 

Waiting for the ride to begin... holding good and tight to the seat!

 

Didn't take long and he was loving it! A very simple and safe train ride in a loop :)

And then sadly the ride was over :'(

First Day of Grade 3 - Melissa

A very fun summer came to a close yesterday

as Melissa headed back to school for Grade 3! 

Brody turns 2!

This week our sweet little boy turned 2! It's hard to remember life before he was in our family :) He gives so much love and joy to us all.

For the party theme, I was initially going to do a bug theme as Brody very much loves bugs... but then a week later I changed to trains, as it was becoming apparent he was becoming very into trains and any kind of moving vehicle for that matter. The Thomas part... well that was kinda just too perfect ;)

Nani & Papa were first to arrive and enjoyed some play time with Brody and his new water toy which he had received earlier in the day...

A cute pic I got of our two precious children excited for the party to begin!

Checking out the cupcakes...

After being sung to, I held him to blow out the candles, and he wasn't sure what to do! Maybe next year ;)

We sat him down with his cupcake and he proceeded to ask for a fork ("fawk") and spoon ("spbun"). He ended up keeping it a rather neat and tidy cake eating!

Cousin Justus on the other hand really knew how to enjoy the cake!

After cake the two boys played a bit...

When it came time for presents, Brody didn't seem to realize how many presents he had in line... as he would rip the tiniest piece of paper off and celebrate, then say "ewww" and drop it to the ground! He certainly enjoyed the audience as well ;)

 

Sitting in his new outdoor folding chair...

More paper ripping excitement!

His first train set - the wooden Thomas the Train coal hopper figure 8 set...

He also received a few more trains to go with his new set...

And a second train set - the Thomas the Train dieselworks figure 8 set...

He was so pleased, each time he opened another present it was another train, which he connected to the rest - his train just kept getting longer! I loved how he would put his head low down to make the train eye level :)

 

And then the birthday boy expired!

 

It's a few days later and he is still just as pleased as the first with his wooden trains! It's sure neat having a boy to experience a whole new world of play with :)