Visits and Geocaching

As our trip nears an end, I have realized that one of the kids highlights was just playing cars in the hallway. They love to race their little matchbox cars for hours. Without fighting. Yay! Guess we didn't need to go anywhere fun for them to do that but maybe if we were home they would be distracted by other things and not find each other so fascinating.

After a leisurely morning, we got in the van to head to Port Alberni which is about one hour away. My mom's mom (oma) and brother (Uncle Al) live there so it's always great to see them. It's where my parents met as teenagers and got married a few years later.

We stopped at Cathedral Grove (we always do!) and tried to go for a walk but it was really, really muddy and wet so we had to cut it short.

Kai was happy that it was so short, he was not a fan of the walk.

Here the boys are with oma and uncle Al. We are celebrating that oma turned 89 yesterday! We just stayed for an hour and then went back to Parksville.

If you've never been, Parksville has a great playground for kids along the beach. It's huge and great for all ages. Just saying.

I'm so embarrassed to post the picture below but it is SO cold and windy here and my coats don't zip up so I just layer. I look ridiculous. Gary doesn't own a winter coat that I could borrow (he just wears rain jackets over fleece). I have to say that I'm so tempted to go somewhere warm next Spring Break because there is no way I want to take a baby out on the beach in this cold, windy, snowy weather.

We then went back to the condo to get ready to do some geocaching. There were two caches along the beach and Kai found both of them.

Kai got a little red truck out of this one:)

My boys!

Highlights for each person:
Koen: the petting zoo in Victoria and the jet tub

Kai: playing cars with Koen and seeing oma and uncle Al

Gary: going for walks as a family

Louise: having our photos taken, the jet tub, and reading two books (oh, and oodles of outdoor family time).

Hope you are having a great week.

Love, Louise

PS Sooooooooo excited to see the Hunger Games on Friday!!!

Off To Parksville

I had a terrible night of insomnia but at least all I had to do today was be on holidays. For some reason I could not stop thinking about a million things. Gary is so good about just...not thinking:) We got up, had breakfast (three pieces of toast for each kid...piggies!), packed up all of our stuff and went two blocks back to Beacon Hill Park. It was raining but the boys didn't care. We saw a lot of ducks and then went to the playground for a bit.

We also went to the Children's Farm there for a bit and the kids loved the baby goats...so cute! Great idea, Haley:)

We did a scenic drive and then went off to Parksville. You can tell the kids have been playing hard because Koen had a nice little snooze.

We are staying at condo just a 5 minute walk from Rathtrevor Beach in Parksville. By taking that big ramp (below) and not being beachfront, we save $50+/night:) This is one of the simplest/smallest/oldest condos that we have stayed in but the kids (and I) love the jet tub that we have so that's a perk! There's also a playground right outside our door:)

The weather has been crazy all day. Rain, snow, sun...the works.

The inside joke of this trip is saying `Who wants to go to the Dolphin Show?'. It's because when we play Junior Monopoly, Kai inevitably gets that card over and over (Go to the Dolphin Show and pay $2). So, no one here wants to go to the Dolphin Show. I should have told `Ms. Megan' this trick to get Koen to smile because this is the smile you get when you ask him...

Koen could've stayed on the beach forever but our Mr. Kai Bear has been a bit grumpy and was ready to head back in once the rain started again.

I love being on holidays. I love the beach. I love the way these boys travel and explore.

Well, I'm going to head to the couch and start on book #2:)

Love, Louise

PS I think Gary and I need to do a trip just the two of us back to Victoria sometime. It's so different doing that trip with kids. Still good, just a whole lot less romantic. Maybe next year we'll take our bikes across on the ferry sans kiddos. Yes, I think a bike trip is romantic.

Victoria

Today we took the ferry to Victoria and drove straight to Beacon Hill Park. We met up with Megan and her husband Steve to have a family/maternity session. It was pretty cold but I won't complain because it wasn't raining! The kids did a pretty good job...I think? I'm excited to get those photos and you can see a sneak peek on their website now!:) Victoria is gorgeous.

(geocaching)

I've been trying to keep them injury free for the last few days and of course last night, while they were racing cars, one of Koen's cars flew into the air and hit Kai in the forehead. It resulted in a goose egg immediately. True, there is photoshop, but that adds an hour to any photographers editing just to get rid of that bruise/bump in all those photos.

(found it! Not an exciting one.)

We got to see a billion ducks and geese and peacocks which the boys loved. We then went to our hotel (resort and spa, go us! Thank you, Hotwire!) and got settled. Then, it was off to geocache and walk the harbour front area.

We did go to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner as we forgot that our hotel had a full kitchen this first night and didn't bring enough meals along.

The kids loved the `fancy restaurant' meal (ha) and I realized why I never go there. Oh well.

Went back to the hotel and the boys went for a swim and hot tub.

I have realized that I couldn't go on a trip any further along in this pregnancy. I get pretty tired so am not a whole lot of fun or very helpful:)

(The boys just watched the hockey game in bed and Koen actually fell asleep before 8pm which has never happened in a hotel for him EVER. Yay! Our little monkey is growing up:)

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Backsplash and Desserts

We saw `The Lorax' yesterday and the kids enjoyed it. We went to the Clova so it was just $15.00 for our whole family:) Koen thought the Lorax was cute and Kai laughed throughout the movie. It was good, the kids give it an 8/10. Oh ya, Koen kept calling me the `Lobster' last night and we realized he thought that was the name of the Once-ler.

{Above is the old backsplash in the messy looking kitchen, below is the new backsplash in a still messy kitchen}

Gary is almost done the back splash, he just has to seal it one more time. Next week we have someone coming by to give us an estimate on refacing our cupboards (they just replace the doors and put a veneer on the side to match rather than replacing the cupboards). It does seem ridiculous to spend big money on aesthetics rather than functionality but the orange looking cupboards do drive me nuts. We love our house and if we can put money into it to make it just how we want it then we save a ton of money not moving. I wish we had done the upgrades when we first purchased our home but we were just married, it was our first home and I was too scared to put even more money into upgrades, even though we were approved by the bank to spend much more:)

Koen can play all day long by himself. He makes up his own rules and plays for me, Kai, Gary and even his baby sister. Baby sister (in utero) has won several games already!

We are just prepping for our `big trip' to the island and looking forward to it! I am so incredibly tired so I'm taking Palafer (iron). I do feel very, very good physically so that is awesome. I totally credit prenatal yoga. We have our maternity/family photo session on Monday so I'm just hoping the weather is decent for that day. I'm also hoping the kids keep their faces injury free for just a few more days:)

{Playing with the 85mm a bit...man, I've never struggled so much with a lens before. I want to fall in love with it so I will persist.}

The kids are driving Gary and I a bit crazy so I'm hoping they will tire themselves out while we are on holidays. It doesn't help that we've had snow/rain every day.

We babysat Isaac for a couple of hours last night. I love him but it reminded me how evenings (or really any part of the day) will not be free anymore in just 10 short weeks. I am soaking up my selfishness now. Free time to do as I wish. With the boys being 3 and 5, it's just so easy as they really take care of themselves most of the day. I'm a bit nervous:) I'm very thankful that I have the entire month of June to just focus on baby and the boys and then have very limited bookings after that.

Baby girl is definitely craving desserts. Every night I want to have something homemade that involves chocolate. I don't do it every night but I want to:) These two minute brownies in a mug desserts are perfect! What else do I crave? Some awesome homemade mousse, banana cream pie, cupcakes with lemon frosting....oh man, so good. I don't want to waste the calories on store bought stuff and I don't have tons of energy to bake so fortunately I don't end up eating it very often. Oh, and whipped cream. It makes everything better. I've gained 22lbs so far which is pretty much on track with my weight gain with Koen. I'm still exercising daily so that's good too.

Well, better get to the laundry so I can pack our suitcases!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love, Louise

Spring Break: Green Lake

We just spent three nights at Green Lake (up by 100 Mile House). It's where Gary and I got married and my dad has a house there. We went up with my sister Maria and her family and the benefit of that is that the kids just play non stop. Very little parenting involved:) It actually isn't my favourite place to go in the winter, especially when I'm pretty pregnant and not really able to do many activities but it was still good. I forgot to bring my computer which was a bit annoying because I had planned on working/editing each night. Now I feel like I'm behind but oh well. There is no internet there so it's good to get away from that for a few days:)

So, here are some pictures from our time. We had great weather but it was windy and cold. The drive home was a bit stressful as it was snowing quite heavily. The boys had a great time with their cousins and they just played so well together.

{Gary, Kris and the kids built a snow fort/quinzee which the kids loved tunneling through}

{Maria and Kris snowshoeing on the lake}

{29 weeks and the last time I will be pregnant at Green Lake. Kind of sad as I wouldn't mind doing this again:) I feel like I'm 3 months pregnant until I see myself in the mirror:)}

{And one of my favourite parts of the day...after a long day of playing, the kids in their pj's watching some cartoons before bed.}

{Kai and Koen look so much alike above!}

The kids traveled so well (it's about 4.5 hours) and it's so easy to go with the two boys. I know it won't be `so easy' for much longer so we are definitely appreciating it now. Looking forward to the rest of our spring break as the best is yet to come! Tomorrow is a work day for Gary replacing the back splash in our kitchen...not so fun but it will look great. Thinking of seeing `The Lorax' with the kiddos this week too, anyone else seen it? Okay for the little ones?

Hope you are all doing well.

Love, Louise

Accomplishments

Well, Koen finished his Sea Star lessons today. He didn't quite pass but he is apparently really good at splashing, jumping in, and listening to his teacher. I loved his teacher (Courtney) and I'll probably put Koen back in again in the fall. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Koen did in regards to listening to the teacher. He had a teacher and a volunteer teacher and both of them said every single time how adorable he was. He is kind of cute with his non stop chatter and dimples. He paid attention and tried his best. What else could I ask for? Good job, Kokonut!

Probably more of an exciting accomplishment, my dad did 2 solo flights this week. Pretty cool grandpa/Opi if you ask me! If only I had the guts to go up with him, I bet there are some pretty cool photo opportunities there:)

One more sleep til Spring Break:)

PS To repair our $500.00 tv, it would cost $500.00. Hilarious.

Love, Louise

Not My Favourite Week

Nothing really wrong just me feeling hormonal and stressed. I haven't felt like this since I was 14 years old so it's kind of frustrating. I get really worked up about almost anything. So, what's going on?

1. Koen broke our brand new flat screen tv. We just bought it 4 months ago and he broke it 30 days past Coscto's warranty (and the warranty by Samsung does not include your child hitting the screen with the remote). Koen's response? `Oh, sorry.'. Just frustrated that we finally spent some money on a `real' tv (we had a big box one until then) and then this happened. The replacement will not be as nice I can tell you that. Along with fixing our van, there goes our tax return:) I have to say that both Gary and I were so calm about it. I guess it is just money and nothing serious.

2. My spring allergies have hit and they are not fun. Major itchy ears, eyes, and throat. The only thing I can do is use a nasal irrigation to help get rid of the pollen. I'm thankful for days when it rains because it keeps the pollen down. The real reason it bothers me is that it doesn't allow me to sleep properly.

3. I had some stress with business taxes but fortunately it has been taken care of. I saw an accountant and he really helped me out in just 15 minutes:) Just had to contribute to CPP and all that jazz. You just have to know that I need to follow rules and so any slight chance that I'm not, or doing something wrong, it stresses me out. And dude, you should see how little we actually take home after all expenses involved with running a small business. Oh well, thankful for my job and it's flexibility.

4. This was the week that our baby would've been born had we not miscarried in July. Very weird to think about. Thankful for the little one on the way. I bought her a dress today. I had to. It was cute and on sale and Kai and Koen both voted yes to it:) (Kai is all about the family votes).

5. Sort of stressed about how baby girl is going to come into this world. Neither option is great (due to risks, recovery etc) and I wish both of the boys had been born naturally. I told myself as long as we/I knew by 32 weeks what the plan was, I'd be okay. So, I have to give myself one more month of not knowing. Technically I'm pretty sure I could get whatever option I wanted (if I went through Women's) but I need to weigh the pros and cons of each and it's just so tough. It really comes down to me and I'm coming to the realization that it will likely be a C-section as the risk to the baby is smaller and that is my priority.

**IF YOU ARE PREGNANT WITH YOUR FIRST CHILD OR NOT PREGNANT YET, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL THE SUPPORT/KNOWLEDGE/RESOURCES YOU NEED!!** I wish I had a midwife and doula with Kai's birth. Not sure if it would've been any different but at least I would've known I did all I could. I made it so far with him (all the way through to pushing) but he just couldn't/wouldn't come out.

I am looking forward to Spring Break and especially the time we will spend on Vancouver Island. I hope you are all having a much better week than I am:)

Love, Louise

Game Time

I picked up a Junior Monopoly game at Value Village this week as Kai `had' to have it:) I have to say that it's not too boring for me to play AND it's great for his love of math. He loves to be the banker. The other day I told him Spring break was in 3 weeks and he said, `Oh, you mean 21 days?'. Koen loves to be my dice/die roller. I do enjoy playing board and card games with 5 year old Kai as Skip Bo, Uno, Crazy 8's, Monopoly etc is a whole lot better than Chutes and Ladders and Candyland.

I had my first outdoor family session of the year today and the weather behaved! I cannot wait for some warmer weather. I broke my own rules and had 3 sessions scheduled for this weekend BUT that ensures that I get almost 2 weeks `off' (not really off as I have to edit them) so we can enjoy our spring break:)

This afternoon we took the boys to the Walnut Grove Pool. They love it and I got to swim a few laps in there so that was nice. Kai loves the waterslide and Koen loves the little slide. We all love the family hot tub. I know Koen won't pass his swimming level, but you know what, I'm fine with it. He's happy in the water and I'm pretty sure by the end of summer he'll be dunking his head. He has no problem if he goes down the slide and ends up under the water but he has a hard time putting his head under on his own. He actually inhales half the time he's supposed to exhale and blow bubbles.

Three year olds are so, so cute. It doesn't take much to excite them or make them laugh. It makes me feel like the funniest person in the world. Five year olds are smart and surprise you daily with their knowledge and understanding.

Have a great weekend.

Love, Louise

27.5 Weeks

I feel like baby girl has doubled in size this week. My stomach has grown and I even got new stretch marks. Who gets new stretch marks, with their 3rd baby, at just 6 months?! I have a hard time doing things at the counter (washing dishes, baking etc) as my belly is in the way. I am reminded, however, of how nice people are to women with pregnant bellies. Everyone is all smiles and `you go first' and all that jazz. I like that part:) Physically, I am feeling well. I don't want to say it but sciatica is almost gone for this week (except for when I move a weird way and the pain goes searing through my butt/leg). I am sleeping well too. It's so weird that my appetite has not increased (way fewer cravings too) but I'm assuming that is thyroid related right now.

I have met with the Langley OB and she was super friendly and engaging. She did not say yes or no to a VBA2C. She will be discussing with her colleagues and my midwife. I took a quiz done by the Better Birth Clinic (at Women's) to see how I felt about an attempted VBA2C vs a planned C-section. Each option scored 12 points from me. That did not help:) If I had only had one C-section, or, I had smaller babies, it would be much easier for everyone involved. It's the risks that worry me. Each one has risks (higher serious risk to baby with VBA2C and higher risk to momma with C-section but please note that both risks are very, very low). I may blog about both of these options more at a later date but someone wants me to cut up some strawberries:)

Have a great night! I get to go to yoga:)

Love, Louise