Tigh-Na-Mara Family Reunion

We just had our third family reunion at Tigh-Na-Mara in Parksville, B.C. There were 33 of us and again, it was the perfect location! Although there is a ferry involved to get there which increase the cost and time, we were able to get home in about four hours from door to door – not bad. We had amazing weather (mid 20's) and the kids had a blast with their cousins. The resort is quite accessible for strollers and wheelchairs to get around and to the beach (but not on the beach) but know that the path back up to the resort is steep. So grateful for this opportunity to hang out, connect and make memories!

Green Lake 2018

Green Lake is a special place to us as it's where Gary and I got engaged and married! My parents built this house in 2003 and we try to go up at least once a year to enjoy it. The summer months fill up fast (it's rented out) so I booked way in advance in order to get a few prime days. Just the week before we decided to leave Baby behind with a friend so that she would get a lot of attention and we would get some time to relax; one-year-olds are busy.

Ucluelet: Day 1 and 2

We started our Vancouver Island holiday yesterday.  Little did we know it would begin with a 5 hour wait at the ferry terminal.  This was due to high winds.  So, while we waited we did a lot of walking and we also did a geocache.

Nya wanted to hold Kai's hand. So cute.

Five hours is a long time to `waste' but Duke Point is pretty to walk around and because we weren't trapped inside a vehicle waiting, it was fine.  The boys are so easy to travel with.  It's Miss Nya that is the most work, especially yesterday when she had to miss her nap.

We finally got on the ferry.  Here's a video showing the waves.  It was like this for a full hour.  Pretty wild.

Gary's parents are joining us this year and they were on the ferry behind us so we saw them late last night.  We are staying in Ucluelet in a motel that we stayed at 5 years ago; the West Coast Motel.  It works well with two bedrooms and a kitchen (Gary and I get the pull out couch so Nya gets her own room) and a very budget friendly price. Nya slept through the night and I am so thankful!  The last time we went away was in the summer when she was still getting up several times a night and I was nervous.

This morning we started with our traditional walk to the Lighthouse.  Grandpa was able to do his first geocache!  It's very nice to have extra hands to help out. 

Nya is pretty much able to keep up with the boys.  The weather was perfect...not too cold and not too windy. 

Lookout.

We've taken our picture here, with the sign, each year.   Looks like the `P' is currently missing.  It took Koen a few hours to get his grumpies out.  He does not like getting up before 8 am but his siblings love getting up at 6 am. 

The Lighthouse.  

`Do Not Climb The Rocks' said the sign.  You know it wasn't me telling him to do it.

Koen happy again, chasing people with a `Lichen Claw' at Big Beach.

Biggest mussel I've ever seen!  It also had VERY large barnacles on it. 

Then we went back to our place and the kids had a snack at grandma and grandpas (they are staying next door to us which is super convenient).

After lunch, we all went swimming in the pool at our place.  The worst part was getting Nya out of the pool as she was tired and DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE.  Fortunately I got a nap out of her after that.

We then walked to the aquarium.  We weren't sure if we wanted to go but reviews online (and from friends who had been) highly recommended it.  It is not large, and it's sort of pricey (it is non profit though), but we went for it.  I love that they catch everything locally and then release it in the fall.  Very cool.  

A lot of touch tanks for the kids.  My little marine biologist :)  Koen loved it the most.  I would say the best part of the aquarium was the staff.  The guy there was so informative and we asked him many, many questions.  He also fed krill to many of the organisms so that we could see them eating.

Koen and I found the Octopus named `Jacques'.  He was a tricky one to find but we learned that he was in a den and you had to look for the crab shells which were his previous dinners.  He was collected by a diver in Tofino.  They tried to feed him a HUGE crab while we were there but he had his eyes closed and didn't go for it then.  The poor crab was so stressed smelling the octopus in the water.  They removed him.

Above is something cool I've never seen...sacs of opalescent squid eggs!!!

Touching the Sunstars.  They got to touch so many kinds of sea stars.

Nudibranchs; Butterflies of the Sea.  

Nya was a little young for it but the kids enjoyed it. I would recommend it BUT I would make sure that you ask the marine biologists there as many questions as you can.  Koen and I asked many questions.  Koen's questions were mostly about how every animal reproduced :)

Strawberry Anenomes....so pretty!!

We came back and had a huge dinner of ribs and salad.  Strawberry shortcake for dessert!

Nya made sure that baby had some.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunnier and it will be our Tofino day!  Looking forward to showing Gary's parents Long Beach as they have never been.  We are also looking forward to the Tacofino Truck :)

All right.  Time to read and relax.

Hope you are having a good week!

Love, Louise

Change

I am in a very `interesting' place in my life right now.  I feel content and thankful BUT I feel like there is more.  I'm not truly happy.  Like, maybe 7/10 but I know I could be happier/more joyful.  Yes, as my friend Jen pointed out, I quantify everything!   

I've been at  home for almost 5 years now. Wow!  I'm so sick of facebook and the media and a calendar that's too full.   I want to spend a year somewhere with my family, contributing in a way that makes a difference and just living simply.  I know we could do that here but I really do want to live overseas.  I'm not too sure anymore that it would be Kenya as I feel that safety would be a bigger concern.  We will see.  This would be in about 4 years or so but I wish it was now.  My main concern for my children going overseas is their health so I want to wait until Nya is older.  Also, I would love for them to remember it and be really involved in the community we end up at.  

Gary and I are not in an awesome place.  We're fine, just not awesome.  We are 100% committed to each other, but man, we are not having a lot of fun together.  I know it's not all about fun, but right now we are just busy and tired with three young kids and a business and a house and a job and child care and groceries and a yard and vehicles and family and friends and church and school...you know, life.   Just like so many other people I guess!  

In the meantime, I want to make changes here.  I want to get off of facebook although probably not completely as it's useful for our business and keeping in contact with relatives and family far away.  I want to do less photography as I dream of free Saturdays and evenings.  I have been doing it for so long and I'm going to start subbing again to see how I feel.  I'm already subbing the first Friday for my favourite teacher; Mr. Gary Chapman :) I'm thinking that in 2014, I might just do several photography sessions on one Saturday a month.  I want to join a sports team.  I miss the hard work, camaraderie and competition.  I wish I could play football but it is so tricky being in Vancouver.  We will see.  

Anyway, those are just some thoughts, on to photos of our long weekend!

On Thursday we went up to Seasons in the Park at Queen Elizabeth Park.  We went with Gary's family (just adults) for his parents 45th wedding anniversary.  What a great restaurant!  We will definitely go back, just Gary and I, as I think it would be quite romantic.  The view is awesome and so is the food.   Big thank you to my sisters Jackie and Maria for each taking a shift babysitting!  Maria and I swap babysitting at least 1-2/month and it's so great to save about $50/month :)  Besides, we know each other's kids so well which leaves us both feeling very confident.  Usually the `rule' is that the babies need to be in bed already but on this day Maria had to dinner and bedtime for all three!  Three cheers for sisters!

On Friday, I was supposed to go hiking with Lynette but she injured her back.  So sad :(  We will plan to go again.  I really needed a day away as I haven't been away from my family for the full day (besides photographing weddings) for at least 3 years?  I'm pretty sure the last time was when I went kayaking with friends three summers ago.   Oh my goodness!!! I need a vacation from my family!!  I have gotten away with just Gary in that time, I think the last time I was 12 weeks pregnant with Nya, so almost 2 years ago.  As soon as Nya sleeps through the night consistently (she's back up again at 4 or 5am) we will hopefully get away for one evening? 

So instead of hiking on Friday, I went to a playdate at my sisters in the morning where I brought boxes of my clothes I was getting rid of and everyone got something.  Then, Jan and I swapped a box of boy and girl clothes! So great.

After Nya's nap, we went to the PNE.  Fortunately we could get Kai and Koen the Junior ride passes but that is the last year for that as Kai is technically in the next size now which doubles the cost of the rides.  I guess next year we can just to go the PNE and walk around but the rides are our favourite part!  We'll see.  There is no way I'm paying $40+ for Kai to ride on the rides.  We brought our own food but they were thrilled that they were allowed to share cotton candy.  I think next year we will do the Northwest Washington Fair instead, although I haven't even looked to see if it's more affordable.

Unfortunately Nya was unable to do anything as I wasn't going to buy her a ride ticket. There wasn't really anywhere for her to run around so she was stuck in our arms or the stroller.

Talking about eggs (picture above), did I tell you that Koen tested positive for Salmonella? Yup. From Thailand.  He seems to be better now but that was a long 3 weeks of needing to be close to a bathroom at all times.  Nya was also tested last week, don't have the results back yet...

The Octopus was a bit too scary for Koen as it can get spinning and dropping pretty fast.  We saw the Superdogs show and Koen said `Too bad their isn't a Superfish show so Gordie (our fish) could be in it!'.  Also, he asked if Bailey and Boom Boom (my sister's dog and my dad's dog) would be in the show.

This is Nya's classic smile to strangers. She especially likes smiling at men.

So apparently Koen loved the roller coaster, his face says otherwise.  He is trying to lift his arms up, so funny.

Below is Kai's favourite ride.

You can see that Koen wasn't so sure about it :)  Kai gave the day an 8 3/4 out of 10.

On Saturday, we went to Brae Island in Fort Langley.  We pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves.  We had a picnic and played in the sand and water.  I really like this beach because it's close, warm and  not busy.

On Saturday night, the boys slept in the tent in our backyard with Gary.  Koen did not make it there overnight as he was sent in to his bedroom.  

On Sunday we went running in the morning (in two shifts, as per usual) and then went to church.  And, because I love Kai's writing and spelling, here is his current Christmas list.  This way, if  they ever say they want something, I don't have to hear them ask over and over.  I just say `put it on the list'.  I especially like how he wrote `Cotton Candy' (#6).

It's back to school tomorrow!  Nothing really exciting though as Koen is just back in preschool and Kai goes to grade 2.  We found out his teacher and classmates and are very happy with it all.  I hope that he is challenged enough, especially in math, as he is no longer in a combination (split) class.  We will see!  The cool thing about his teacher is that I taught her kids science back in the day.  Kai couldn't care less about back to school clothes, it's so funny to me.  I babysat my nieces last night and they showed me their outfits already laid out.  

I hope you had a great long weekend!    I think we are going to have a picnic dinner to finish off our holidays.  What an awesome summer.  I'm exhausted but it was a good one!  

Love, Louise

Cebu: Days 1 and 2

All right!  I have a few minutes (aka an hour) to sit here and blog about our first few days!  We left on Thursday at 9 pm and the kids were wide awake.  They have never stayed up that late!  They ended up staying awake until 11:45pm (well, Nya did not fall asleep until 4am!!!!).  

I will say that leaving at 2am was both a super terrible idea (kids that were sooooo overtired and all the passengers were trying to sleep and our kids were not) and a great idea (our kids were so tired the next night that they were pretty much able to get right on schedule 15 hours ahead).

{Had a subway sandwich and waited...}

{Boys finally passed out.  By the way, the pillow above has been AWESOME.  I use it to feed Nya on the airplane and then it allows her to stay sleeping on my lap.   One thing we would do differently is take WAY less carry on.  Each boy had a backpack and they did not need anything in it.  So, unfortunately they were half asleep carrying backpacks which was not ideal.  I would recommend rolling suitcases for kids if they are going to take anything, or really, just don't take much on board.}

I will tell you that the flight sucked. Yup, we are not `allowed' to say sucked but it sure did.  Like my friend Tessa said, it's like labour and you sort of just need to get through it and there's no stopping it.  12 hours.  They had the lights on from 2-4am to feed everyone dinner which was terrible for Nya.  I ended up spending the first few hours just holding her close to the engines so the sound would keep her quiet.  Lots and lots of walking the aisle with her while everyone else slept.   She was not terrible, but what do you expect with a 1 year old wide awake in the middle of the night?!   Random, but one of my least favourite things was the guy across from me crunching on pork rinds (so crunchy!!!) while I was so overtired and trying to sleep :)  Gary and I slept less than 2 hours in 36.

Gary got sick on the flight and spent some time vomiting in the bathroom. Not cool.  It was the combo of exhaustion and recycled air and lack of food.  Fortunately once we were in Taipei he perked up a bit.  We spent 2 hours in that airport and then took the 2 hour flight to Manila.  It went really well.  Loved that flight.  China Airlines was great, the ladies were all so friendly and helpful to our family.   The benefit of traveling with 3 kids is you get optimal seating and they move you through quickly!

Nya asleep after feeding her and I fill out a million custom forms.  This flight was my favourite.  Ample leg room and Nya slept!!  Let me tell you, by this second flight, Nya was good just feeding and going to sleep.  THANK YOU GOD!!!  So glad to be breastfeeding her even though there were a few people just staring.   She has been feeding sooooooooooooo much.

 Everyone had told us that the Manila airport was crazy but we breezed through our luggage, customs, ATM and taxis within 15 minutes and went to another terminal 15 minutes away.  It was perfect answer to prayer.  Then, we waited in Manila for about 4 hours as our flight was delayed.  We had pizza and the kids raced cars for a long time.  I should note that we did not take a stroller and used the Ergo instead.  This was a very wise decision as she loves to be held and then my other hands were free to hold luggage/kids hands etc.

People have been taking a lot of pictures of our kids. I would say that 90% of people thought Nya was a boy due to being bald.  Koen was a hit in all the airports because he just chats with everyone about everything.  He even smiles his `handsome smile' for photos.  Kai is not as exciting to them but he still sneaks into some photos.

We arrived in Cebu at about 4 pm which is actually 1 am our time!  Jen and her 4 year old daughter, Ella, picked us up and it was so good to see them!  We drove just less than an hour to their home.  So great to see Cebu!  We kept everyone awake for dinner and then we were all in bed and asleep by 7pm ( which was really 4am our time!).  We slept until about 5am which was not bad!  Nya was hungry and fed frequently.  It is weird to wake up in the night feeling really hungry.  We are all sleeping in a giant air conditioned room and it is perfect.  The loud AC means we don't need to tiptoe around :)

Nya and Koen in the playroom.  Koen checking out the chickens outside!  I thought they were roosters because they are the biggest chickens I've ever seen.

Ella showed Kai how to hold a chicken!  It is hot and humid here, I'm assuming low 30's and we just sweat all day but as recommended, just embrace it.  So I do.  Sunday morning, before church, Andrey and Ella took us on their daily walk.  It was really great to see what they do every day.  The kids were tired and hot but such good sports.

It is so hard to take any photos while keeping tabs on the three kids but wow, there are some amazing flowers and butterflies here!  Will have to get a few photos of those.  We walked to the bridge and checked out the goats and river.  This was at 8:30am and we were fully dripping in sweat :)

I felt a strange connection to this goat :)  So cute!

We went to church and it was good to worship in English and Cebuano. It was hot and we were really tired but I love just experiencing everything.  Poor Nya was so tired.  Beyond exhausted.  The boys did go with the kids for a bit.  After church, they had a little coconut milk/rice snack and then we went to a restaurant for lunch.

Yummy chicken and pork.  So so yummy.  Nya was still awake and so exhausted.  

Then we went to a pool for 2 hours.  So nice and refreshing!!  The boys are really improving in their swimming but wow, Ella is amazing!   She is 4 and can swim in the deep end no problem, dive down etc.  I think we have some video of the pool but no photos as I didn't want to take our camera there.  Nya perked up with the pool so that held her off of her nap until we got home. 

 We then picked up a local dessert/drink called Hola Hola.  Coconut, banana, ice, condensed milk etc.  We took them back to their house to drink.

Nya finally got her nap.  It's hard to know how much to go with the flow and how much to push your kids and how much is time change/jet lag etc.   I tried to wake her up 1.5 hours later (love our travel crib so much!!) and she just stayed passed out on our bed.  Poor girl.  Just really trying to get them on the Cebu time. 

Jen has made us some amazing meals (last night chicken tortilla soup and fresh guacamole) and we are so thankful for it! 

Last night was a much better sleep for her as she only fed twice?  The kids were up for the day at 5am.  Working on this.  

Today the plan is to rest at home this morning while Andrey works, Ella has school and Jen goes to several meetings.  I will be doing a photoshoot for 3 hours this afternoon for an organization here.  I'm nervous/excited for it.  I  will be the sweatiest mess ever.   We brought our back up camera along and not a lot of gear so hopefully it goes okay.  I'm thinking the diffuser would've been helpful.   Also, we have our travel laptop which makes editing a bit trickier, we will see!! Gary will be doing a photoshoot this evening in the dark for a street kids ministry. Will be tricky as the sun is down around 6:30pm but should be fun.   

Tomorrow we are off to Moalboal (beach resort).  We are really looking forward to it!

So far I would say that the hardest part was the flight over but being here is just the same as being at home really in regards to having the kids along.  I'm so glad that they are here with us and I'm glad that we are stationed in each place for 3 days or more.  They are still a bit off time wise so a little grumpier than usual but that is totally to be expected.  Koen spends hours racing his cars around :)  Nya loves exploring the home which is so baby friendly and Kai is playing cars with Koen and doing a little reading/DS etc.

Gary and I are getting along well. Phew!  If you could pray for our photo sessions today (I will be with people I don't know in places I don't know!) and also safe travels for tomorrow (2.5 hour drive), that would be awesome. 

Highlights so far:
Kai: chickens
Koen: mangoes
Nya: pool
Gary: seeing the kids explore the culture here
Louise: Just seeing how Jen and Andrey do life here and getting to know Ella better.

Thank you for reading, I def. will only post once per location!

Love, Team Chapman in Cebu, Philippines