Project 365 Day 191

Babysitting time!  We had a tiny visitor today... for a little longer than usual, and without her other family members who all stood in a wedding.  I love seeing my dh with a baby.  It reminds me of when our own dd was small.  He is a great Daddy and a pretty good fill in when needed. :)

Two awesome smiles.  Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 190

Don't we look great!  We are each usually behind our own camera and rarely dressed up!  Thanks to dh for taking this shot at a wedding reception.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 189

Summer time fun in the sprinkler!  I think it was a bit colder than she expected.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 188

A pretty typical day around here today.  Swimming lessons in the am, playing with friends in the pm and soccer after supper.  Here, dd is practicing headers.  I say OUCH!  She seemed to think it was fun.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 187

Movie Day!  It was a dull rainy day, so after swimming lessons dd and I decided to go to the movies.  We called Daddy who was able to get away from work a little early and joined us for Toy Story 3 in 3D.  You just have to love those glasses!

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 186

What fun we had today babysitting!  Dd loved singing her Joli Papillon song and helping to pick up toys and such.  She loves to help and seems genuinely pleased when Baby R smiles at something she does or grasps her finger.  Babies are awesome.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 185

Happy Fourth of July to my American friends and Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in my family.

Today we hosted our annual Father's Day lobster boil.  My parents were in Florida on the actual Father's Day, so we had a brunch with dh's family then and postponed the feast until today.  Cooking and preparing lobster is a bit of a messy job, and the little cracker tools you sometimes see in restaurants are not particularly useful for breaking the shells on a large quantity of lobsters.

We boil them in a huge pot outdoors and then the "dads" look after the messy bits before we all sit down to eat.  In this pic you see my dad (left) and dh's dad (right) using the most efficient tools:  hands, cleaver and hammer!

Top this off with a variety of cold salads and you get the makings of a truly delicious meal!

Project 365 Day 184

Wow...the real half way point!  Many congratulations to those of you who have kept up with the challenge.  Perhaps now that I've actually caught up, I will find it easier to keep up again.  Here's my pic for today.  I love the blue color of cornflowers.  Today a whole bunch bloomed at once.

Happy half-year!

Project 365 Day 183

I love to watch my girl as she plays, creates and generally entertains herself.  This peaceful expression is one I cherish.  I can't remember what she was doing.  I think she wanted to show me something she had made.  I'm glad I caught this one nonetheless.

Wishing you ordinary beauty to take your breath away.

Project 365 Day 182

My family and that of my bff regularly spend Canada Day together.  The adults take it easy and enjoy the refreshments while the kids play together.  In this pic of my friends son, he is showing off his santa claus mustache and beard.  You just have to love kids and cones.

Happy Canada Day!

Project 365 Day 181

Backstage with my gorgeous girl at the final performance of "Rhythm is a Dancer".  Both sets of grandparents and Mommy and Daddy adored her performances in both ballet and hip hop.  When it was all over, we topped off the night with ice cream cones from MacDonald's.  Yummy!

Hoping you had a great day!

Project 365 Day 180

Beautiful evening sky as seen through a window in dd's bedroom.

Hoping you had a great day!

Project 365 Day 179

Today marked the 50th wedding anniversary for dh's Aunt J and Uncle F.  50 years ago, they had their reception in the yard of their parent's house and decided to do the same today.  The house is now owned by another uncle who often hosts the best family get togethers.  They hired a tent, filled it with lilacs and served cold plates to as many of their wedding guests as they could gather.  Awesome!

My pic for today is of dd and a cousin from Labrador.  The two girls had not been together since they were toddlers, but hit it off immediately.  As the adults celebrated in the yard, the girls chased the cats (5 of them!), enjoyed the dessert treats, tested out the pool and decorated Uncle J and Aunt K's bedroom with whatever they could find.  I love this pic.  It says "Don't be mad Mom.  We're too cute and this idea just rocks.  Besides, Uncle J won't mind"

Priceless.

Project 365 Day 178

My daughter's dance studio, Revolutions, held the first of five recital evenings today.  Dd's ballet class was simply adorable.  I took several nice shots, but this one of her twirling in the grass stole my heart.

Hoping you had a beautiful day...

Project 365 Day 177

I was so excited today when I found these cheery cherry blossoms.  We bought and planted this small tree two summers ago, but it has yet to bear fruit.  Hopefully this is the year!

We also planted a couple of apple trees a few years back and they are blooming as well!  Fingers crossed.

Project 365 Day 175 and 176

Jumping for joy today.  School is out for summer break.

Happy summer holidays to all school kids...and the teachers too, of course.  :)

This one was overlooked when posting behind the times.  That will teach me to slack off!  Dd's school hosted their annual art show.  Here she is proudly showing her Dad some of her artwork from the year.  In this case, it is a purple flower, of course.  :)

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 174

Just playing around with my camera.  The double image reflected was the result of the double panes of glass in my kitchen windows.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 173

It's finally summer!  Here is one sure sign.

Hope you are all enjoying good summer weather.

Project 365 Day 172

Can you see the spider web?  It caught my eye as it sparkled in the sun on our deck swing.  Pretty.

I'm trying hard to catch up!  I've got the pics, just have to find the time to post them.  :)

Project 365 Day 171

Father's Day!  Somehow...I'm not really sure how...I don't have any pics of us for this day!!!  We had a great brunch with Nanny and Poppy at Auntie Boo's house and will have our annual lobster boil soon.  Oh well, here's the sun setting in my maple tree.  :)

Happy Day!

Project 365 Day 170

Here's one from a color prompt at Gotta Pixel.  These "flowers" have almost finished their cycle for this year.  Everyone seems to detest the dandelion, but if they would bloom like this and not crowd out the grass, they might actually be popular.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 169

Lucky me again today.  This time I had a visitor...my nephew.  He came to stay with us for his very first sleepover ever as his daddy opened his new business and his mommy went out with her friend who is getting married soon.  He was so sweet and we both enjoyed every minute of his stay.  DD and he chatted and giggled long after bedtime...Oh well, I remember that being one of the best parts of a sleepover.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 168

This was my view this evening as I visited my friend.  This little girl is growing by leaps and bounds.  It never ceases to amaze me that babies grow so incredibly fast.  I will cuddle and cherish her at every opportunity.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 167

I would like to introduce you all to the newest member of our family: Jilly (aka Clarette) the Zhu Zhu pet. She is apparently part of a large fad working through my daughter's kindergarten class at the moment. It would seem there is a whole culture associated with these little mechanical pets. They have toys, homes and even offspring! Who knew? hahaha lol

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 166

Purple is my dd's favorite color.  It usually plays a dominant part in her appearance.  Here you can see her purple jacket, purple bike, purple stripes on rainbow shoes, purple pads for the trampoline...Heaven help us if she decides to change her preference.  :)

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 165

Many flowers have yet to bloom in our area.  This familiar friend, however, is just finishing its life cycle.  So soft and pretty yet such an invasive pest.  One of dd's favorite pass times these days is to blow the fluffy tufts from these dandelion seed heads.  I expect we'll have a great deal of yellow on our lawn for many years to come.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 164

Today was to be the final music class of the year for dd, but as the recital was only yesterday, the teacher decided to give the class a treat and host a wacky hair and pyjama party.  Dd was soooo excited.  Here she is on her way to "music class" this afternoon.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 163

Today was recital day for dd's music class.  Dh and I were a little concerned that she had not really practiced for a few weeks due to our holiday, but she did not seem to be worried and practices all week without too much prompting from us.  She did a lovely job on her song "What Game is This?".  We're proud of you sweetie!

This year, the recital was held at the music school of the local university.  She got to play a grand piano for the first time.  A Steinway grand piano!  Cool!  Here she is with her concentration evident on her face.  She is such and expressive kid.  I love her!

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 162

What an incredible day it was her today!  Bright and clear sunny sky, a nice breeze that wasn't cold and it was Fun Day at dd's school.  Classes were broken into teams and mixed with other classes to participate in 8 different fun activities in a round robin type of plan.  Activities included silly races, fun games and bouncy castle fun.  For today's pic, I chose my dd running in a race called Chef's Delight.  I love the look of concentration on her face and hope the "chef" doesn't mind his rubber fish dusted with a soupçon of playground sand!

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 161

I recently ordered 12 x 12 prints of 66 of my digital scrapbooking layouts. I was so excited when the package arrived. I savoured each page when I opened the envelope, recalling many of the memories they now record. Imagine my disappointment, however when I realized this...

Yep, I checked the purchase order and everything. I ordered 66 pages and somehow forgot to order the 0 from my '09 year in review collage! I'm so disappointed.

On a positive note, I got a great pic for today and when I went back to order the print I missed I found out that the store is offering free shipping until June 14! This is fabulous as I can't just pop over to Utah and pick up my order...hahaha!

I'm going to "count" my blessings on this one.  

Project 365 Day 160

Here is a pic of some newly opened leaves on my favorite tree in our garden, a crimson king maple.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 159

I sure was glad to read the prompt today at Gotta Pixel:  Favorite Shoes.  That's it.  Easy peasy right now.  Here are my favorite sandals.  They are well worn.  I am so happy it is warm enough to wear them now!

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 158

Today was a long day of travel. We left our hotel in Yellowknife NWT at 5:45 AM and arrived at our home in St. John's NL at 9:30 PM ready to go directly to bed. Dd's comment after I tucked her in...

"This is the best hotel ever Mommy."

I agree with her assessment. It's great to go, but it's also wonderful to come home.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 157

We had a hoot today at the Northern Heritage resource center in Yellowknife. They had lovely displays of innuit carving and other art as well a recounting of the evolution of mining. The best part, however was a hands on interactive storytelling area in which the participants were encouraged to use props, costumes and puppetry to imagine the lives of the early habitants of the vast north of our country.

Here's dd as a raven. She introduced herself and then flew around the mockup camp. I love to see creativity set loose.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 156

One of the highlights of  today was building an inukshuk in front of the hotel.  Many northern native groups make them to indicate they visited a place or to convey a message to those that follow.  Here dd is placing the head. It took several tries and eventually a rock that was less rounded for the head. Each time we walked by, she needed to check to verify her creation was still intact.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 155

One thing that can be hit or miss with any large group people at a conference is the evening social activity. Fortunately, this time it was a great success. We were all picked up at the hotel and brought to a business building on the waterfront. From there, we climbed 5 flights of stairs to the roof where the hosts awaited with Burgers on the grill and spectacular sunny spring evening in a place where the sun doesn't set at this time of year. AWESOME!

One of the local participants lived nearby and invited dd and I to go for a walk to the top of Pilot's Monument. It was well worth the effort. You can see the roof top party deck, just a bit of it, in the background of today's pic.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 154

We arrived in Yellowknife, NWT today.  Ironically, we have come the furthest north to find the best weather.  It was 22 degrees Celsius and sunny with a slight breeze.  Perfect!  And, it lasted all day and evening.  It was still warm and light when we walked home from our restaurant at 10:30 PM.  The restaurant was an experience in itself.  It began as a remote cabin for bush pilots, was used as a chinese restaurant, an ice cream parlor and is currently owned by the city who hold a sort of lottery to determine who gets to run the restaurant each year.  Dh ate a stew of muskox and caribou and I had an arctic char fetuccini.  Firsts for both of us...and good ones.  Unfortunately, dd remained unadventurous and ate toast, grapes and cheese.  Here's the outside of the Wild Cat Cafe.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 153

Our drive through the mountains ended today :( , but not the fun!  Instead of going directly to our hotel, we stopped at the West Edmonton Mall.  I did a few errands and dh and dd rode some rides at Galaxy Land.  Later, we ate supper on "Bourbon Street".  This mall truly has a bit of everything.  Here's my girl coming out of a slide...a giant slide.  The look on her face says everything.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 152

Today, we toured the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper.  It was incredible.  The glacial silt called rock flour gets deposited in lakes and streams creating the most fabulous blue color in the water.  Lake Louise, nestled in a sheltered valley, was one of the most striking examples of this that we saw.  The lake was calm and the sun was shining on the mountains.  I got some wonderful pics.  Here is one of my favorites.

We also visited the Columbia Icefields, traveled up on a glacier on a huge explorer vehicle and walked around Athabaska Falls.  I will definitely be including those shots in my scrapbook.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 151

Today we drove through Kicking Horse Pass and on into Alberta.  I don't think dh believed me when I told him how dramatic and impressive mountain scenery really is until he saw it for himself.  It was cloudy on and off all day, but it seemed to clear nicely just when we wanted to see something special.  We  arrived in Banff early afternoon and spent the rest of the day on top of Sulphur Mountain.  The gondola ride to the top was exciting, but the view from the summit was magnificent.  I chose a family pic for my photo today.

Based a recommendation from a friend, we chose to stay at the RimRock Resort at the base of Sulphur Mountain.  We were not disappointed.  This is the view from our room.  I could not resist posting it here as well.

(I took just over 600 shots today...choosing one only was impossible.)
Have a great day.

Project 365 Day 150

Today we left Vancouver to head towards the Rocky Mountains.  I was terribly excited because neither dh nor dd had really seen dramatic mountains.  It was a long haul, but we arrived in Revelstoke, BC just before supper time.  The scenery is almost too pretty to describe.  This was our view as we entered town.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 149

Today, dh was able to come with us on our exploring.  Still some rain/drizzle/fog, but that didn't stop us.  After picking up our rental car, we drove around Stanley park to show him some of the things we had already seen and to find the Totem Pole display.  We had lots of fun and only got "sidetracked" a couple of times. :)

I chose this picture for today because I am in it.  Dh has the camera.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 148

A bit of rain and drizzle today, so we continued our adventures by exploring Vancouver's Science World.  The exhibits were very interactive and engaging for both dd and me.  There were so many thing to see and to do.  We investigated pulleys, played a variety of interesting instruments with our feet and hands, explored a beaver lodge, fed guinea pigs, did puzzles...etc all day long.  We watched an Omnimax film on the gold rush and then finished our day with the treasure displays.  DD got to search for metal "treasures" using a metal detector and even panned for gold and found some pyrite she got to keep. 

We ended the day by joining dh on a supper cruise around Vancouver harbour to False Creek.
Another awesome day!

Project 365 Day 147

Although I refer to this trip as our holiday, dh does have work to do, so dd and I spent today exploring Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium.  What a wonderful time we had exploring the flower gardens, and especially the exhibits and shows at the aquarium.  I took several hundred pics and dd took almost as many herself.  This is one of my favorites.  She was adorable taking her pictures.  She doesn't want to forget a single moment.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 146

Yippee!  Our long awaited trip to the west began today.  It took almost 12 hours to travel from one coast to the other.  We were exhausted and travel weary, but when we arrived in Vancouver, the first taxi available to us was a full stretch limo.  For only a small extra fee (5$)  we all wore smiles as we drove to our hotel in first class style.  A great kick off to our holiday.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 145

Getting ready for two weeks on the road involves a lot of errands.  My sweet girl waited patiently as I made some returns to WalMart.  In return, I agreed to spend some time exploring the toy section.  Here's her reaction.
I love that smile.

Have a great day!

Project 365 Day 144

A new toy!  Dh wanted a new iPod to keep in his car full time...soooo, I got a new iPod Touch and he gets my old nano for his car.  Smiles all around :)

Have a great day!