"Life Moves Pretty Fast. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it."

Skiing with Owen

2012-02-07T21:34:00.000-08:00

We've always enjoyed skiing, but while living on the East Coast, we never spent a lot of time making the effort to drive somewhere to go do it. Well here in Vancouver we have no excuses as we have no less than 4 ski mountains within an hour of the house. A few weekends ago I wanted to get Owen out and let him practice some.... it was kindof spur of the moment.. a nice weekend morning, not too cold... and randomly we ran into our neighbors up there so Owen got to ski with some of his friends too. We had him out for lessons almost 2 years ago now and he didn't get to ski at all last season as we were moving up here to Vancouver. I was shocked at how fast he picked it up again. After getting his bearings, and skiing down with me a few times, he was back on his own. One of two runs by himself and he was turning, stopping and having so much fun. We had such a great time and I can't wait to get him back out again!

Here we are with the Peregrym's.

Owen riding up the "magic carpet" It sure beat teaching him how to ride a T-Bar.

The man in action sporting some good form.

Getting ready to ride up to the top again!

Here's a segment of video of Owen skiing. I hit the stop record button accidentally so it cuts short at the end... he continued down around the group of people and came to a stop like an old pro.

Snow!

2012-02-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

Finally some snow in Vancouver! This was mid-January and as I'm writing this, it's February and beautiful and appears that this may have been the only snow of any significance for this season. Being closer to the coast, the winter weather is mild at our elevation, rarely getting much below freezing. We've had a lot of rain (surprise) which has been all snow in the mountains, making a pretty great season for the ski resorts... Anyhow, we received maybe 5 inches of sticky snow and we spent most of the day outside making snowmen and sledding!

The snow stuck to the trees around the house and was very pretty in the morning. Unfortunate down-side was a few big branches broke off and fell to the ground.

Molly is always taking pictures of me with her camera when I'm trying to take pictures of her. She was getting ready to play and Owen was already out on the porch under the watchful eye of Bailey.. :) She was quite the blast of winter color with her hot pink snowpants!

Owen in action....

Molly was just running around in the snow for a while....

Then she plopped down and started making snow angels. She's kept saying Daddy look at my angels!

I can't believe she's almost 3. Where did the time go?

Owen rolling up the start of the snowman! Later in the afternoon at his friends house, we rolled a huge snow ball, then the boys cut a big hole in the middle so they could slide through it!

This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it. I wish I could bottle up their laughter sometimes.. it's contagious.

He was so excited to help shovel snow and worked until he wore himself out...... hmmm I wonder how long that enthusiasm will last?

Of course, Molly had to have her shovel too because brother was helping daddy... she just started working on clearing the lawn.

Later in the weekend, we went sledding with friends over at the community center where their is a nice sledding hill. Most of the main path was worn down to dirt, but there was still a snow covered run... Molly was hilarious instructing me... Daddy, you sit on the sled, then I will sit in your lap, then we will go down the hill... she laughed so hard the whole way down... then of course, it was her idea that I carry her back up the hill because suddenly her legs were tired. Owen had a blast with his buddies and they were catching air on a little jump in the middle of the hill.

Slightly off topic, here's Miss Molly and her princesses... Aunt Sarah mailed up a Disney princess dress up kit for Molly for Christmas and she enjoys them so much! They have a standup cutout and different outfits and accessories that she can stick to them.

She would dress them up and then stand back and say hmmmmm... the crossed arms and pointy fingers just round out the whole scene. We laughed a lot watching her, but she was very serious in her efforts.

New Years 2011

2012-02-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

We did a variety of things over New Years holiday here in Vancouver...

New Years morning demonstration of how to effectively utilize every surface of a couch!

Owen had his friends Noah and Roman come over and they built an impressive geotrax layout. Ok, I helped a little with layering the ramps, but they came up with the general idea... A few strategically placed guardrails to keep all the trains on the tracks and they played for hours...

New Years dinner at our friends Greg & Anita's house. Here's the gang deep in conversation with their party crowns on.

A short movie captured attention for a little while...

Jenga time!

Molly and Allison crashed when we got home, but Owen stayed up until midnight and watched the "ball drop" with me. He was so excited to do this and thankfully slept in a little on New Years day. :)

New Years day was the last day for the Canyon lights at Capilano Suspension bridge... so we went over and beat most of the crowd early in the evening. They had lights everywhere, including the whole treetop adventure area, which was quite pretty. This is the main entrance from the parking lot.

The bridge itself was lit the entire span.

Me and the crazy snowbirds...

January 2nd, we visited the Vancouver Aquarium in the afternoon... They recently re-opened an exhibit and had the boa-constrictor back on display. Allison cringed at this, but Owen thought he was pretty cool.

Owen and Allison getting ready to watch the Polar Express 4D short movie!

Molly with her starfish

And when it got dark, we went over and rode the Stanley park train through the light exhibit they have set up during the holidays. The kids really enjoyed this....

Grandma & Grandpa Horvath & Christmas 2011

2012-01-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

So I hear that this was a chain barrette event... Owen was putting them in Molly's hair... who was putting them in Allison's hair, who was busy putting one in Bailey's fur.... :)

I think he looks a little embarassed.

And this is what happens when we leave Owen alone with Molly and a sheet of stickers.

We were so happy to have Mom & Dad visit us here in Vancouver for Christmas. We had several days of absolutely beautiful weather and made it out to some of our favorite spots to see the sights. Here's Mom & Dad on Burnaby mountain overlooking Burrard inlet.

Owen and Grandpa on the pier at Rocky Point.

It was a beautiful afternoon and Allison got some great pictures of the scenery. This is a along the walking path at Rocky Point. The lone seagull is quite stoic on his perch. We're starting to get some snow now at elevation so the mountains are turning white again as time goes on.

Looking East. The tide was in and the inlet was quite full. The mountains are really pretty in the background.

The weekend before Christmas was rainy, but it cleared up in the evening, so we drove up Cypress Mountain to the lookout to see the city. It was really cold and Molly was throwing a fit, so here's a very happy Owen with Grandma & Grandpa

Vancouver from the North. The bridge in the center is the Lion's gate bridge. It connects North Vancouver to Stanley Park. Directly behind the bridge you can see the lights from Canada Place and to the right of that is the city center.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house.....

Christmas Eve getting ready for church.....

Of course the silly crew came out a few times. Why is it that kids never want to stand and smile when you want them to? Owen's leg just cracks me up....

We let the kids open some special gifts from Grandma & Grandpa on Christmas eve. Owen with mom, very excited for a video about trains!

This year Dad made the little grand-daughters a bunk bed for their dolls. Molly was absolutely in love the first time she saw it. She carefully puts her dolly's to bed every night in it and covers them up.

Making sure everyone is snug as a bug.

Owen had the opportunity to buy something special from a sale at school for Allison and I. This was his gift and he was so excited to give me the "crazy" pencil. It means so much that he put thought into something just for me...

Can you just feel the attitude? We have to remind ourselves a lot these days that she's only 2.

Hmmmm which ones are for me?

Serious discussion about something important I'm sure...

When we were growing up, Mom encouraged and supported a love of reading. Now she's working hard to pass it along to the next generation! Owen just loves to sit and read with her.... here they are, with a book about trains of course.

We've had some Christmas morning traditions for decades now and one is having delicious home-made sticky buns for breakfast. Owen was an addict and devoured more than just one!

Molly was less interested in the sticky buns, but she and Grandma had made a favorite of hers earlier in the week.... pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. I have no idea how many she ate. :)

Excitement and Anticipation!

Owen has a few hex bugs now and this was a new controllable crab. He and Grandpa had a lot of fun playing with them.

Molly and her play doughnuts! Look Dad, they have sprinkles!

Owen introducing Mr. Crab to Mr. Spider.

For close to a year now Owen has been talking about a model train and how much he would really really like to have one of his own. Grandma & Grandpa Stapler made the dream come true this year. He was and still is enthralled with this train and plays with it just about every day.

A new kind of Christmas sharing... Opening present together via Skype!

A quiet moment with Grandma and Bailey on the couch. Molly is a great little snuggler.

Lego Time!!

Molly and her princess scooter... She was so excited to ride "just like brother"....

Christmas was certainly different this year. It was wonderful to have mom & dad visiting, bringing a familiar feeling and family closeness to our home in Canada this year. At the same time, we also missed sharing the traditional annual celebrations with our family in Lancaster. In the end, the reason we celebrate Christmas is a steady and unchanging influence on our lives and for that we are truly blessed.

Vacation Scenery

2011-12-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a few random pictures of the scenery from our cruise.

We left from the Los Angeles port of long beach. It's an impressive farm of containers and docks.

Clouds and a sun-lit sky as we were departing port.

In Puerto Vallarta they have a newly refinished sea-wall area called the Malecon. There are many sculptures on the walk, and this one, created by Rafel Zamarripa is named "Caballeo del Mar" or "The Seahorse" and is recognized as the symbolic statue of the city.

The Our Lady of Guadalupe cathedral is also an icon of the city of Puerto Vallarta.

A deocrative window on the side of the chapel.

Another view of the tower from the base.

The flowers on the plain building structure, contrasted with the blue sky caught my eye.

This was our view from the restaurant where we had lunch.

Rock formations on the way into Cabo san Lucas

There were so many small boat tenders providing shuttle service between the main beach in the bay and the ocean side beaches.

The marina at Cabo. The sailboat in the center was impressively big.

The water was so clear, with the shadow on the bottom, it gives the illusion that the boat is floating.

Vacation homes on the cliffs.

My peaceful afternoon reading on the deck.

I didn't have a tripod with me, but the moon was quite pretty in the haze, with the reflection over the water. This was the evening that we sailed out of port for the night while in Cabo.

Sunset the next day.

And a quiet moment on the walking deck with no-one around.

The Disney Wonder

2011-12-30T22:01:00.001-08:00

We do love our Disney vacations and Allison found a fantastic deal where the Disney cruise line was offering trips where "kids sail free". The ship was the Disney Wonder and during the summer it sails from Vancouver up to Alaska... and in the winter from Long Beach, CA to Mexico. Early this fall when the ship was in port, Allison took the kids down to Canada place to see it, and by chance they saw several characters on the landing. I don't think the kids (or Allison) needed any encouragement to get excited about this trip, but it did the trick... :) We travelled in November... driving to Seattle and flying to Long Beach where we met the boat. We sailed 7 nights, Sunday to Sunday, with stops in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.

Getting Ready!

At the airport in Seattle.... Molly singing her story about how she's going to see Minnie mouse!

Serious excitement here....

In the hotel room on Saturday night... I just thought this was a funny picture of Owen, relaxing on the bed watching a show with Molly.

At the cruise port, getting ready to board. I was wearing my Mickey ears too!

The ship has 11 decks, is almost a 1000 feet long and can carry 2700 passengers with 950 crew. It's not as big as some of the newer ships, but is still quite impressive.

Onboard!

We boarded just before lunch, so while we waited for our bags to get to the room, we had some snacks in the forward cafe.

The rooms were quite a bit larger than any cruise ship we had been on before. There were upgrades available when we checked in, so we moved to a stateroom with a veranda. This was a great decision because having the deck was quite nice in the evenings and while we were in ports.

Looking from outside....

And from the hall side. The couch folded out into a twin bed and there was a bunk that dropped down from the ceiling. It was perfect for Molly & Owen and they loved their sleeping arrangements. Molly only rolled out of bed once during the whole trip. :)

We spent the early afternoon walking around the ship before heading to the departure party! It was raining and kindof cold when we arrived in LA, but Sunday when we left, it was a beautiful blue sky and warming up!

Owen in a porthole outside of the Animators Palate Restaurant.

On the Sail Away! deck party as we left LA...... They put on a great show and it's hard to put into words how excited the kids were. It was pure joy. Both of them were smiles ear to ear and dancing their little hearts out.

Molly seeing Mickey for the first time on the boat!

Some interpretive dance with her tassles...

Oh the things you can do!

Life on the boat was full of possibilities for everyone. "The lab", which was an activity area for the younger kids on the ship, had the perfect combination of things to do for Owen. Computers, movies, cooking, stories with the characters, crafts and more... The kids wore bracelets the entire voyage and you just had to scan them into the room. The rooms were supervised and organized by a large team of cast members so there was no concern leaving them there. Owen loved it so much, one day he spent almost the entire day there, despite us stopping by to see if he wanted to join us for lunch, dinner, swimming etc... Molly was mixed to be honest. She was an age where she was too old for the nursery, but somewhat intimidated by the activity rooms. In addition to the lab where Owen spent a lot of time, they also had the "Club". which was aimed at the 3-5 year olds. We tried many times to get here interested in going in there, so we could have some adult time alone, but usually the drama came out. What ended up working, with tons of credit to the caretakers in the room, was to have her in the lab with Owen. She would throw a fit when we left, but then would settle down and have a great few hours of activity. So, while we struggled at times, in the end, it worked out.

For us, there was a surprising amount of adult activities and spaces on the ship. In fact, there were many people on the ship vacationing with no kids! There were quiet adult only pools, a coffee shop, clubs, bars, adults only restaurants etc... If you wanted quiet time to read a book, it was possible! The spa on the boat was fantastic and we both enjoyed our peaceful massages.

There were several restaurants and they structure things so you have a seating time for dinner, and you rotate restaurants... but your servers stay with you the entire voyage, so you get to know them a little bit. To be honest, the food quality/presentation wasn't as great as some other cruises we have been on, but it was good.

There was something happening almost all the time on the ship, either an activity in one of the lounges, or a party on the deck. The stage entertainment was geared perfectly to entertain all of us. The quality of the shows was fantastic and they captured the attention of the kids for the entire duration.

Lots of smiles on this vacation!

On the first day, Molly, Owen and I went to an origami class to learn how to fold a paper frog! It was fun and Molly took a detour practicing to be a pirate! "I see you daddy!"

Owen folding up his version of Kermit.

Molly & Allison at dinner on formal night.

Owen and I...

Breakfast at sea.....

They had two pools for families, one of which was in the shape of a big mickey head. It was shallow enough that Molly could walk around the entire pool, so she was in her glory. She's so cute in her little tankini laughing it up and having a great time!

They have a big "goofy slide" on the boat and I think Owen went down this at least 15 times one afternoon.... here he is resting up between runs...

Miss Molly... drama princess ~extraordinaire~

Everyone always says the kids look like me because of the blonde hair, but seriously.... Here's the girls waiting in the theatre for a show.... like mother, like daughter.

Owen took this picture of us at dinner in animator's palace on one of the last evenings...

Molly didn't take many naps on the ship, so it wasn't too unusual to be battling at dinner with some 2 year old attitude. On this evening after a particularly busy day, she crashed.... and slept through the entire meal. For us it worked out perfect... a nice meal with Owen and a rested Molly for the show that night. :)

Our little man... mischievous at times, but ready with a smile.

This was on the last evening when we were walking around the disney store on the ship. Molly's expression says its all... a girl on a mission with purpose! This is the result of telling her she could pick out one small item in the store and then turning our back for a few seconds... She comes back down the row, loaded up with treasures... a few princess dress-up dolls, some shoes and another Minnie mouse.

Special moments with Cinderella

Molly is a huge Cinderella fan and we captured many Kodak moments on the princess theme evening. I think Molly was one of the only little blonde girls in the blue dress that matched... so many people were saying "awwwww.... " when they saw them together.

Waiting to meet for the first time....

Molly was timid at first....

Then she sat right down and made herself at home......

Later in the week at the princess ball... dancing with Cinderella.

Allison got some of this on video.... it's so precious.

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta was the first of two planned port stops on the cruise. We arrived during the night so we had a full day in port to go out and see the city. We didn't have any grand plans in ports, but we did sign up for a guided city tour that included lunch at a local restaurant. We rode the bus around some developing areas and also the original settlement region of the city. Lunch was nice, and somewhat random, with the one man band belting out Van Halen classics while we ate. After lunch, they had all the kids take cracks at a pinata until it broke and released the pile of candy.... Molly and Owen loved it.

The ship in port...

At the boardwalk....

Cabo san Lucas

After a day at sea, our second stop was in Cabo san Lucas. Cabo is an interesting city with quite a few high end resorts and destinations, but surrounded by a city with many issues. Disney Cruise line won't spend the night in the harbour for safety reasons, also to ensure that all their cast members must return to the ship for the night. The harbor is very pretty, with fantastic features in the landscape. I'll upload some pictures in a following post.

The only thing we planned off ship in Cabo was an excursion for Owen to swim with dolphins. It was a highlight of his trip and he talked about it for the rest of the vacation!

Pirate Evening!

They also had a few themed evenings on the ship and the Pirate party was a hit with the kids. We had a pirate themed dinner, followed by a huge pirate party up on deck... finishing in the only fireworks show that a cruise line does at sea...

Owen and I at dinner.

Molly and Allison dancing at the Buccaneer Bash Pirate Party!

Molly and I at dinner

Characters...

One of the great things about the Disney cruise experience is access to the characters. They are at every event and often, you will come across them on the boat walking from one area to another. Unlike at the parks where they are on a mission to be somewhere... on the ship, they often stopped to say hi and give the kids a high five. Owen and Molly loved it! The majority of the time, they were both pretty interested in saying hi. Molly would get intimidated once in a while with the characters that she wasn't as familiar with, but would usually warm up after a few minutes. Minnie and Cinderella were always a hit, but the one thing she wouldn't do was visit with the other princesses.

An exciting moment with Minnie.... who borrowed Molly's Minnie for a hug.

All of us with Mickey in Mexico

This is one of those frightened moments where she loves Daisey, but wouldn't go near her... but after a few seconds decided to blow some kisses... I loved that the characters just played along to whatever comfort level the kids were at.

Owen with Chip & Dale. Just remember... Chip has the black nose... like a chocolate "Chip".

Ahhhhh yes.. The two most important princesses.

Mr. Goof with Mr. Goof.

All of us with Pluto

And with Mr. Mickey Mouse himself.

Owen with Belle... who I think he's particularly fond of.

Owen with Captain Mickey.... we had to work at this one a little because he only came out in the captains outfit a few times on the cruise.

A great picture with Molly... she was shrieking because Minnie mouse was just off to the right of this picture

Owen with the characters from the stage show "Disney dreams".

Owen with those swashbucklin' Pirates and Captain Hook!

Allison & Owen with Donald

On the last night, all the characters were in the main atrium to sing some songs and bid farewell to everyone.

We arrived back in port on Sunday morning.... disembarked the ship and took the shuttle to LAX. It was a long day getting home after the flight and the drive from Seattle to Vancouver. Within a week of getting home, both Molly & Owen were asking when we were going on Mickey's boat again. :)

Grandma & Grandpa Stapler Visit!

2011-12-21T06:07:00.000-08:00

After visiting Vegas for a certain special Grandpa's birthday, Allison's parents came to visit us in Vancouver! They arrived just before Halloween, and were able to share in all the fun with the kids. We were so excited to have them visit, and the kids were especially looking forward to it. Each morning in the week before, Owen and Molly would ask "how many days until Grandma & Grandpa get here?". Finally our countdown was "Today!".

We carved pumpkins together. Here's Owen and Grandpa tracing out the grim reaper!

Molly and her Grandma busy scooping out the pumpkin guts.

Molly and I after finishing cutting out her special scary kitty. :) Ahhh the grimacing smile is back.

Our final product in action!

We tried to get out to several local fun places that the kids enjoy with Grandma & Grandpa. Here, we are at a favorite spot...the Vancouver Aquarium. Molly & Owen love this tank because it has sharks and the big turtle.

The Beluga whale show!

Jumping up and touching his toy!

Molly watching the dolphins swim from the underwater viewing area.

With Grandma & Grandpa at the lookout in Stanley Park. We tried a few times, but couldn't get Molly & Owen looking at the camera at the same time.

Later in the week, Owen, Grandpa and I went to visit the Capilano bridge and tree top adventure walk. Owen was super excited to show his Grandpa the bridge and the trees!

On the bridge.

Posing with the big trees....

New life growing out of the old.....

Owen in the treetop adventure!

Every time I see these trees, it's still a really awesome experience. They are truly majestic.

There were some massive leaves on the walking trail as we made our way around. I managed to capture this picture holding one up before it folded back on itself.

Owen holding one of the leaves.... It's bigger than my head dad!

Looking through the totem pole!

Overlooking the canyon, there are many moss covered branches. They are truly beautiful, but the detail and texture is lost in color pictures with all the green. I thought is was represented well in B&W.

Here is our little artist with her paint creation. She was so proud of it, and I love the paint on her nose. She really puts a lot of thought into her projects. When I get home from work, she proudly presents her work and tells me that I can take them to my office and hang them on my wall. :)

Molly playing cards with her Grandma....

For trick or treating, Molly of course had to be a princess! Cinderella was the choice and this picture just scratches the surface of the energy and excitement!

Owen was a bit trickier. We started with wanting to be a pirate, but then he changed his mind and said that he wanted to be.... wait for it..... a cardboard box. So we started to create a box with arm holes and such, and then he had the idea that he liked Oreo cookies and maybe we could make a box that looked like a glass of milk and his head could be an Oreo dipping into the milk... So this little gem was the result of an afternoon with a roll of packaging tape, several boxes and a bunch of craft paint! He loved it and it was a great hit!

The hoodlums ready to go out!

Molly giving her friend Roman some princess star love.... :)

Trick or treating was so much fun in our development. Without a doubt there were hundreds of kids in the area. Allison's parents manned the door while we took the kids around and they counted almost 70 kids that came to our door alone.... and we were somewhat removed from the high volume areas. The pile of candy they brought back was HUGE! It's December now as I'm writing this and we still have some around the house.

Our visit went too quickly of course, and it seems that we never take enough pictures to capture the moments. We so enjoyed having family here visiting with us and it was sad to take them back to the airport, but we look forward to more visits in the future!

Evening in Vancouver

2011-12-03T18:48:00.001-08:00

For the past few years, we've made an effort to get a babysitter and go have dinner, see a movie, have coffee every week or 2 to keep sane and have on opportunity for adult conversation without the soundtrack of Molly and Owen. A few weeks ago we had a great afternoon/evening out in Vancouver... we started with a visit to the Vancouver Chinese Garden. Vancouver Chinese Garden

My partner in this adventure we call life...

There was a series of extruded concrete window openings in a courtyard at the garden. The shapes caught my eye.

After our visit at the garden, we went over to Stanley park for a walk on the sea-wall. It was a gorgeous evening. Rocks catching sun in the water.

A view of the Lions Gate Bridge from the park.

Walking back to the car, we saw a bald eagle flying over. We almost always see some when walking around the park. The eagle population around the island and this area in general is quite large. They are majestic birds.

Sunset over Coal Harbour

Marina with the skyline and almost perfect reflection. The beauty of Vancouver....

We finished the afternoon with a nice dinner at the Lift Bar & Grill on the water. Fantastic food and atmosphere.

Fall Days

2011-11-26T14:00:00.001-08:00

Owen loves to play with his friends Noah and Roman. Here they are one afternoon creating a new geotrack layout.... They built most of this on their own, then asked for some help to bring all the loops together!

A great picture of Molly and "her dog" Bailey. Bailey is so tolerant of her loving... :)

One morning our little spider friend created a huge web outside our front door. He was there for almost a week catching bugs.

Thanksgiving in Canada falls on October 10th. Our friends graciously invited us over to their annual family & friends gathering to celebrate with them. We had a great time and the kids enjoying playing together as usual....here with a rousing game of hungry hippos!

Party girl with the smile...

Reading about dinosaurs with the boys

We made a cheesecake for desert.... white chocolate rasberry. Art with food.

We had a crisp Saturday morning in October and it had been raining all week, so we needed to get outside for some air and running around. We decided to go over to Belcarra park, which is on the other side of Burrard Inlet. They have a great playground and dock. Belcarra park site

Molly and Allison on the bouning see saw. She deliberately wanted to ride it with both of us... swapping places with brother...

And her turn with daddy!

Owen on the disk swing and Molly helping to push.

The crew walking through the park down to the dock. It was beautiful as the sun came over the hill.

On the pier with the kids.

This picture ended up overexposed, but the leaves were so bright it was almost glowing.

Lions and tigers and ummm... OH MY!

So when the kids were running across the dew covered grass, their shoes and socks got wet. Owen convinced Molly that she would look cool if she pulled up her pants and socks. So this is what I discovered when I went to get her out of her carseat. At least she was laughing about it.....

The next weekend we had nice weather again so we search out a corn maze that we thought the kids would enjoy doing. They had a petting zoo, tractor rides and a walking tour through the woods with cartoon character settings. It was simple and fun and the kids enjoyed it. They had some teepee's setup that the kids could walk around and in. I thought this peak against the blue sky was pretty.

Allison and the kids ready to start in the corn maze. Molly was giving a little attitude as you can see.

She said she was scared, so she ended up riding on my shoulders. Here we are in the middle of the maze.

Owen the pirate.... ARRRRGGHH May Tee!

Molly was so excited to come across Cinderella.

I had to laugh out-loud in the petting zoo area. Here Molly was bending over and saying "cockle doodle doo!"

After a haircut.. Love this smile and laugh. It's the best description of Owen.

Salmon is a huge industry in BC and when they begin to run in the creeks, there are several local festivals celebrating the event. Locally in Coquitlam, the Hyde Creek Watershed society organizes a Salmon Festival. They have activities for the kids and many locations along the creek to watch the fish. I was really suprised that there were so many fish climbing up the small creek!

Here's Molly "fishing" for a small prize.

Owen spinning the wheel showing the lifecycle of the salmon.

BC Hydro usually has a green energy and recycling stand at all the local events. Here they had a small experiment with a "potato battery". Owen thought it was really cool.

Just a pretty picture of the leaves

Pumpkins & Cranberry Festival

2011-11-26T13:45:00.001-08:00

October brought cooler air and days with quickly fanishing daylight. Mid month we needed some pumpkins for carving and decided to head back to Krause Berry Farm to see what they had growing! When we got there, I asked who was ready for fresh warm donuts and this was the response... :)

Molly and her "pink" donut.

Owen was warming his hand over my coffee.

After our snack, we were off to pick a few last blueberries and find the perfect pumpkins.... Owen was so excited he was skipping.

Molly the ever diligent follower of big brother.

They had little wagons to carry the pumpkins out of the field. Owen pulled Molly all the way out to the field by himself.

Owen searched out and found his perfect pumpkin.

Molly with her pick!

Playing with the camera... Molly loved these little squashes and tried to convince us to get 1, 2 3, 4 7 , 10 of them dad!

After picking out our pumpkins we went over to the Fort Langley Cranberry Fest. It's an annual festival with lots of stuff to do for everyone. Market vendors and great food! We picked up some fantastic balsamic reduction from a small company based out of whistler. The local fire department had a pancake lunch line where they had cranberry sausage and as Owen proclaimed "delish" pancakes. It's primary sponsor is Ocean Spray. Here's the link to more info. http://www.cranberryfest.ca/

In Fort Langley they have a historic train station from Canadian National rail that is open for walk-through's so you can see how things used to be. They also have a restored train car where they have a model train setup. Owen of course was in his glory.

Kids on the bridge looking over the river.

Shapes on the bridge.

They had a few huge pumpkins and squash varieties in the town square.

Will Stroet was playing live on the stage. The kids had seen him previously at a show at the library. He's a local musician that writes and performs songs for kids. They are really fun, upbeat and not hard to listen to over and over again. Molly's favorite song is "Jam".

Granville & Beach

2011-11-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

There is a fantastic island in the middle of Vancouver called Granville Island. We ventured out here in September on a nice Saturday morning. It was pretty crowded, but a lot of fun and we would definitely recommend it as a place to check out if you are in the area. It is home to many artisan shops, a theater and a public market. It's thriving with people and culture and a great place to spend a morning, or the whole day! Here's a link if you want to see what's there: http://www.granvilleisland.com/

The public market is really something to behold. There is an awesome selection of fresh local produce, along with meats and a variety of international foods.

Grapes... blueberries...

More yummy stuff.

And most importantly, donuts..... Owen & Molly spotted this place from across the room!

Just a cool building and a perfect cloudless sky that morning.

Being an island in the city with port access, there is a large marina on the island. Lots of boat parts and distributors... Owen thought this old propeller was neat... but he wouldn't stand next to it. I think he thought it might move or fall over.

We had lunch in the food court, which is huge and has an unbelievable variety. I found a great stand serving up old school slavic food and it was fantastic. Smoked sausage, sauerkraut & Pierogies.

Molly goofing around after she finished her slice of pizza.

Can you hear Owen laugh? :)

They have a large indoor play area with a climbing gym and ball pit where we let the kids play for a while, then we got some energy out on the playground outside. Here's Owen in what I believe was an old dragline mining bucket.

Owen climbing on the gym.

It was an unusually warm weekend and we thought we would hit the beach one last time before it got too cold to enjoy. Both of the kids fell asleep on the short ride from Granville over to Lorcarno beach, so we found some parking and sat and watched the water for a while. Unfortunately, some clouds rolled in while they were snoozing. But this didn't hold us back!

Here's Molly on the beach. I think this picture is funny with her and the blanket as a blast of color on the otherwise bland scene.

They have logs setup along the beach that are used to anchor beach volleyball nets. When not used for that, then they become a perfect perch!

Owen spent a great deal of time at the water playing in the sand & digging holes. I was experimenting with shutter speeds and finally captured a few great shots of him whipping sand into the water.

Well, Molly didn't think the sand tasted that good.

Gotta love this. :)

There's a lot of attitude behind these eyes.

I think she thought Owen was crazy... just standing there staring at him. You have to wonder what's going through her mind sometimes.

View across the bay.

I was dipping her feet into the water to wash off the sand, but then it turned into a game..... "Again daddy Again!"

There were a few couples out on paddle boards... Allison captured this nice silhouette.

All in all, we had a great last summer weekend....

New Camera

2011-11-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

In September I made the jump to a new Canon digital SLR and it's been a lot of fun to experiment and learn new techniques. Most of these pictures are from the first day shooting and misc stuff in following days.

Some-days Molly looks like a toddler and other days she looks so grown up already. Here she's prepared with her princess phone to do some serious talking.

Owen picked out these flowers for Allison's birthday a few weeks ago. At the end, we had them outside on the porch and while they were drooping over, the colors were still striking.

Taking a picture of you, taking a picture of me. :)

The owners of the house built several beautiful flower beds in the backyard.

Cheese & crackers... One of Molly's favorite snacks.

Owen's robot window gel man.

Owen was gathering pine-cones and setting them on the deck.

Molly chillin on the front porch with her Minnie.

What you can't see is Bailey on the other side sniffing through the mail slot. Molly was laughing hysterically when he would lick her fingers.

Bailey's latest victim. Bunny was such a good playmate and provided hours of entertainment until his tail was removed and all his stuffing was dragged out his butt. We laughed a lot and framed many very inappropriate comments from Bunny about the incident.

Bailey and his unstuffed friend.

This is what happens when you give Molly a piece of toast with Nutella.

Owen seriously loves planes. Allison found this balsa wood rubberband plane kit and this is some pure joy right here. He put most of it together all by himself and flew it around the house for hours.

Berry Picking and First Day of School

2011-10-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

The weekend before school started brought perfect weather here in BC, so we decided to get outside and go blueberry picking. Allison found Krause Berry Farm about 30 minutes from our house and they had a large variety of u-pick fruit. What a beautiful place! They have a small playground for the kids, and a pastry cafe where they make some seriously evil selections along with fresh donuts...

Molly getting ready to fill her bucket.

mmmmmmhhmmm Blueberries..

Owen working away.... He was so excited to help and pick his own.

The fruit was amazing. Almost every bush looked like this.

The crew thinking about making blueberry muffins!

So this is some of that terribly good stuff they serve up at the cafe. It's fresh blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries in a custard and thick preserve jam served up in a flaky crust.

I can't believe our guy is heading into 1st grade. I am so proud of him for his sense of adventure and interest to experience something new. We were so concerned moving up here that he would struggle with a new school, but it has been quite the opposite. Owen is continuing in the French immersion program and in a few short weeks will be having lessons only in French! Almost every day he comes home and says he had a great day, and he is always excited to walk to school in the morning. Here he is ready for his first day of school!

Seymour Mountain

2011-10-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

The weekend before school started we had the most beautiful weather... warm and clear blue skies. We all wanted to be outside, so we decided to go exploring at the Seymour Mountain Provincial park in North Vancouver. Seymour Park It was a great long twisty drive up with beautiful views to arrive at the upper mountian trail head.

We started the afternoon with picnic lunch... Molly wouldn't tell us what happened, but I think Minnie mouse had a wee bit too much to drink and passed out on the table.

View from the top of the chair lift at the parking lot.

Looking at the map we decided to explore the Dog Mountain trail, which was a few kilometers out through the woods, ending at a viewpoint of the city. Here I am with my little hikers at the beginning of the trail.

The trail was mostly groomed, but had long segments covered in tree roots that were quite beautiful and Owen loved climbing over and around them. At this point, we put Molly in the backpack and she became my hiking partner for the duration. Here's Owen & Allison on the trail.

Unique tree along the way. Appeared that something fell on it decades ago, causing it to grow around before reaching skyward again.

There are many rock faces along the trail.

Owen was suprised and quite excited to find a patch of snow on the back side of the mountain. This was early September!

This is First Lake, about half-way point along the trail. You can see a small cabin on the hill which has a history through the 20th century. It's now used as a base for a search and rescue teams.

Allison and Owen on the trail between First Lake and Dog Mountain.

Me and my backpack buddy.

The trail culminates at a stunning view of the lower mainland. You can see clear the entire region, all the way into Washington State. Here we are on the lookout.

In this shot, the city center is in the middle of the picture. You can just make out the sail roof on Canada Place. In the distance are the mountains of Vancouver Island.

The hike to the lookout is a one way trail, so we backtracked to First Lake, where we were able to head off and continue the loop around the mountain back to the trail head. Owen skipped out to this rock and climbed on for this picture.

My partner fell asleep on the return hike.

Stitched together shots of the view.

This was such a memorable afternoon! As far as hikes go, it's only 5K and a reasonably easy trail for the kids.

Pinecones, summer picnic & beach

2011-10-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

We have more than 15 very large coniferous trees that surround the house. They are majestic and beautiful, but two by products are kindof annoying. First is pine needles.... everywhere..... As they die, they fall all over everything. It's like it's raining pine needles at times. Second is the periodic plauge of pine-cones! This cart full is the result of the kids picking them out of the front lawn for a few minutes.

One of the nice weekends we had recently we put the kids on the bikes and rode around the inlet at Port Moody. It's fun to ride along and see the various homes along the water... some haven't changed in 50 years and others have been knocked down and replaced with new glamourous properties. There is a small park with a beach where we stopped for a picnic lunch. Here's a view down the bay.

Molly & Owen playing in the sand

Late in August, we had a summer picnic with work at Lorcarno Beach Park in Vancouver. We had a great afternoon with tasty picnic food and visiting with families of co-workers. After the festivities wound down, we played on the beach with the kids for a while. Owen really wanted to dig a big hole....

Playing with the kids...

Allison kindly reminded me that we had a warm day, a beach and beautiful scenery, but I failed on providing warm water... A caption here was supposed to be along the theme of toes turning blue or something like that. :)

Molly relaxing with Mommy

visitors

2011-10-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Our first visitors in Canada arrived on August 6th to spend a week in Vancouver! Allison's cousin Amy, her wife Shannon and their daughter Vivienne brought along some beautiful weather for the entire visit. So sad not to deliver some pacific northwest clouds and rain... :) but it did make for a great week of activities and outings with the kids.

Sunday after our visitors arrived we all went to Rocky Point, our favorite park in Port Moody. There was an outdoor concert with a Bob Marley cover band later in the evening, so we spent the afternoon hiking and playing. Here's Molly and I doing some "lift-ups" as she affectionately calls them.

The princess...

All the kids love to swing (a lot)... so we killed at least a half hour on the swings with them all. Here's Vivienne, Molly & Owen in action.

We had a nice picnic dinner in the park from Pajo's fish and chips and then walked out on the pier to see the boats. Here's Molly pondering some deep thoughts.

After the pier, you can walk along the bay on the water. The kids were looking for crabs and looking for rocks to skip.

Molly and Vivienne....

After this, we went for a walk around the inlet. Molly fell asleep, so I took her in the stroller on the outer path while the rest of the crew went on the trail by the water... Here's Owen walking along the path.

On Monday, Sea to Sky highway was the destination.... It is a beautiful drive with many parks along the way. Here's the kids at the park at Shannon Falls.

Shannon Falls on a beautiful summer day.

The views along the highway are quite spectacular

Whistler was the furthest desination of the day. Here's a view of the rail line leading out of town.

Brandywine falls is part of another Provincial park close by to Whistler. The water tumbles from 70 meters into a beautiful pool.

And you can't miss the Olympic Villiage in Whistler. If you look closely you can see Owen in the rings.

There is still some snow on the peaks in the middle of summer, but the trails are clear.

Tuesday was spent in downtown Vancouver at the Aquarium and Stanley park.

The exciting point of the day was seeing Matt Damon and his family. Vancouver is known as the "Hollywood of the North" and there are always film crews around the city and surrounding region. There are huge warehouses close by my office as well for studio production work.

Wednesday, the gang went to Chilliwack to try and see the toad migration which happens annually at this time. Unfortunately they move the most often in the overnight hours, so they didn't see too many. Here's Molly, Owen and Vivienne inspecting one of the toads on his journey across the road.

The toads are very small! Here's a little guy next to a penny.

After seeing the toads, they explored Bridal Veil Falls park which has another beautiful water fall and is also known for the moss that grows over all the trees.

Bridal Veil Falls are known for how they pour over the rocks and appear as..... a veil.

Thursday was spent in downtown Vancouver and back to Stanley park to see some additional sights. Canada Place has a gigantic raindrop in the square... Here's Owen posing with it.

Here's the kids at the lookout view of the Lion's Gate Bridge that connects Stanley Park Island with North Vancouver.

Aboriginal history in this region is displayed in many of the parks. Here are some of the totem poles created and on display in Stanley Park.

Friday morning was spent visiting Campilano Bridge and the newly opened Cliff Walk.

After the bridge, they visited MapleWood farms which is a local petting zoo. The going opinion was that we never need to go back there again, but there were a few fun moments... here's the girls petting a goat.

Burnaby Mountain was the last stop of the day to see the views. Here's the entire adventuring group!

Friday night I watched all the kids while Allison, Amy and Shannon went for a moonlight kayak tour from Rocky Point. Here's Allison on the water.

Out at the Boathouse Restaurant post paddle....

Some moments captured during the week... Molly and Vivienne walking through the soccer field at Owen's school.

Out for a walk Friday night with the wagon. The kids were taking turns pulling the wagon with the other two riding. Molly was working especially hard here to tug along Owen and Vivienne!

Tubby time with the girls. So many laughs coming from these two. They were too funny in their goggles..

It was a great week where we all had so much fun. Busy days and quiet evenings catching up and enjoying company of family. It was wonderful! Who is coming next?

Swimming, reading, hitch & Slugs!

2011-09-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

We've had Owen in swimming lessons for most of the summer and fall and he's really doing well with it. One of the things we love about where we live is that so much is close by. Owen had lessons at this outdoor pool during the summer months and we would ride our bikes down to the park and back. Once in a while, Molly would come along and we would swim while Owen was in his lesson.

Just a funny picture from dinner out one night. The funny caption would be "My name is Molly.. you gotta problem with that?" In reality, I think this was the drama that ensued after we informed her that she had to eat dinner before having any desert.

Did I mention that there are some serious slugs up here in the pacific Northwest! Holy goodness. At first Owen was scared of them, but now he's more or less used to seeing these monsters. The big ones can be over 5" long and there's several varieties around... like the gray spotted slug in our shed...

and the banana slug...

but the most common and prevalent is the black slug. Here's the kids looking at one on a local hike. After a rain down on the trails around rocky point you can literally see 30+ of these things sliming around.

For moving bikes around we had purchased a hitch mount bike rack a few years ago. Unfortunately, the only hitch we had was on the car that I sold in Pennsylvania... After cramming bikes in the back and on the roof of Allison's car a few times, we decided to put a hitch on her car so we could use our rack again. Previously I had always used etrailer.com to find hitches, but when I started there they had ridiculous shipping fees to Canada.. :(. While shopping, I was fortunate to see an ad from hitch depot usa for a limited offer of free shipping anywhere in North America... so I placed the order. It was a Curt brand hitch, which looked to be pretty well identical to the hidden hitch model I was looking at from E-trailer. Anyhow, it arrived in less than 2 weeks and I'm happy to say was very easy and quick to install.

The hardware was simple and only required to fish line the hardware through some openings in the uni-body frame rail openings. Only difficult part was that I had to drop the rear part of the exhaust system, and this involved removing some original corroded hardware. It worked, just took some time to prevent breaking any corroded bolts. I really missed my compressor and air tools sitting in storage in Pennsylvania.

Here's the finished view. I didn't bother with purchasing the wiring kit as we don't plan to tow any trailers. If we want to in the future, it's an easy enough thing to add later.

The local library in Port Moody sponsored a reading club over the summer. Owen and Molly both kept track of all the books they read over several weeks in a log sheet from the library. If participants filled out their entire sheets, they were invited to the award ceremony at the end of the summer! It was really a great little event and the kids loved the recognition for reading. Here's Owen & Molly getting their medals and certificates.

The medal....

They were so proud of themselves....... and so were we. :)

The library had several supporting activities after the ceremony. Here's Owen putting stickers on his certificate.

And they both got a little watercolor tattoo

Owen loved his bat.

And Molly of course had to have a butterfly.

Celebration of Light 2011 (China)

2011-09-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

Vancouver hosts an international fireworks festival every year, where representing countries put on a competition of sorts in English Bay on the west side of the city.

Vancouver Celebration of Light

For 2011, there were three nights planned, hosted by China, Spain and Canada. We decided to go into the city on July 30th for the experience... Driving into the city was strongly discouraged, so took the bus from the house, to the local Skytrain station, and took the train into the city. Owen and Molly were so excited to ride on the train!

We had a nice afternoon walking around Canada place and Gastown. Here's Owen on the pier watching some seaplanes take off in the water..

There is a Steamclock in Gastown, which is one a the few functioning steamclocks in the world. Owen was just enamored by this clock and the mechanism.

We were fortunate to be walking by at the hour, so here's a video of the chimes....

After this, we took a bus across town, which ended up stopping service about a 1/2 mile from the bay as there were so many people starting to collect in the area and they had several blocks in the city closed to all taffic. This is when Allison and I started to wonder if it was a smart idea to be down here with the kids....? We pressed on and made it to the beach just before 7 and there was still over 2 hours to go until it was dark. We found one of the last open spots in the grass and sat for a while taking in the scenes....

Here's a few fun shots of Molly dancing for us.... shake a little to the left...

And a little to the right....

And then giggle like crazy...

It was getting to be after 7:30, which is not too far away from bedtime, so we had to play this carefully or risk major meltdowns... The quantity of people coming into the area at this point was increasing substantially, so we decided to start walking back toward the busline and get something to eat for dinner. Thankfully we found a great little pizza shop right off Davie street and enjoyed a quick bite. Owen was so sad to have missed the fireworks.....

While we were sitting there having dinner, there was a nonstop wall of people walking toward the beach. Later we found out that this event was attended by over 250,000 !!

One of the pre-show highlights was an airshow put on by Pete McLeod in his Red Bull Aerobatic plane. Unfortuntately, we missed this by about a half-hour, but we heard the plane.

After getting some food, we continued to walk out of the bay area to where we could catch a bus again and re-trace our steps back across town, ride the skytrain back to Coquitlam and catch the bus home. What a great experience and good time we had!

Espresso

2011-09-16T22:46:00.000-07:00

A long story short, during the recent years working in Lancaster I had access to a fully automatic espresso maker, which became a wee bit of a habit before every meeting. For my birthday this past year Allison and her parents got me the ultimate kitchen accessory. :)

I'm surprised, but very happy that bed-bath & beyond honors their 20% off coupons on items like this. We researched local stores, but the pricing in Canada was significantly higher than of the stores in Washington. We purchased it in Bellingham, and after a month on order, it was finally delivered.

It's the same model I used at work, a Saeco Giro II . It has a ton of features and produces the most beautiful and tasty cup of espresso in less than a minute.

Bonus now that Allison spent some time experimenting with the milk frother and chocolate syrup, and has developed a very tasty Mocha!

July Random happenings...

2011-09-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

2 days after we arrived back in Vancouver from our visit back East, I was on a plane to our factory in Ovar, Portugal, then continued onto Germany near Stuttgart for a conference. I took this picture of Allison and the kids right before I left and had it on my phone during my trip. Love the beautiful smiles!

Ovar is on the coast and the hotel we stay at is in Espinho, right on the beach. This was the view from my room. We caught some really nice weather during our visit.

Staircase at the hotel. Architecture is cool.

In Germany, this MAN service center was right across the road from the hotel I stayed at. How can you go wrong with "Trucknology Center" on your building. It made me laugh a little and think of Owen and his trucks.

Back home, some deep conversation over a plate of apples.

This pileated woodpecker was at the tree right in front of the house one morning. Was in a hurry and shooting through a window, so it's a little blurry, but you get the point. This bird is BIG (+12") and there's chips flying when we starts attacking the tree. It's crazy to watch!

During our travels back home, I caught one of Molly's little dee-dee songs. Try not to smile when you watch this...

My little fashion model.

Allison signed Molly up for a little tutu's class this summer and she absolutely loved it! She still shows us her dance moves around the house months later. She looks so grown up in her outfit.

She was posing for Allison and asking her to take pictures. What a little diva. :) and great form for a 2 year old eh?

For some reason the kids love to play in the car when I wash it, so here they are also with the furry one too... Molly likes to buckle herself in when she's sitting in there. She can get in by herself, but needs help unbuckling... usually it isn't a problem, but sometimes it turns into yelling... Daddy!!! help me get out!!!

Summer Trip back to Pennsylvania! June 18th-July 7th

2011-09-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

For years, we had planned for Owen to go to summer camp at Kirchenwald, where Allison attended when she growing up and later worked as a counselor. As we were committing to this assignment, we realized we would be on the other side of the continent at camp time... So we planned a trip back in June and registered Owen for camp. It was a good time to be back in Pennsylvania/New York as it aligned with Allison's sister's family summer visit and also a reunion with my family.

Planning was a bit hectic, but we made it work. I drove Allison, Molly & Owen to Seattle on June 19th and sent them off on a flight to Philadelphia. The kids were great on the flight home for Allison and after a long day of travel, arrived at Grandma & Grandpa's house. The next week Owen attended day-camp with his cousin Shaun. So many stories and great memories came out of this week. Here's his group picture. Shaun is in the gray shirt.

The second week, Owen spent with his cousins on my side of the family at my parents. Mom hosts an annual cousin's camp and it's something that Owen looks forward to every year. This year the theme was "Down on the Farm". During the week, they did so many wonderful things along this theme.. Here's Owen with Alyssa, Ellie & Riley, my brother's girls.

Riding on Mr. Klinko's John Deere!

Riding horses!

With Grandma & Grandpa... how about these smiling faces!

I stayed in Vancouver for 2 weeks working and doing some things around the house in the evenings. It was so quiet without Allison and the kids here... June 29th I left after work and drove to Seattle to catch a red-eye into Philadelphia. The border crossing was slow and traffic going into Seattle was heavy. I just made it to the airport in time to catch my flight. I arrived in Philadelphia at 6:30am and stopped into my old office in Lancaster for a short visit. Allison and Molly met me at the office and we drove over to our house to sign a contract with a new realtor. After a short lunch, we caught up with Seth & Mary at the outlets in Limerick, PA. They had spent a few days visiting with friends near Philadelphia while the girls were at Cousin's camp. After doing some shopping, we drove up to Mom & Dad's in Binghamton for a family get-together over the July 4th holiday weekend. We had a great weekend, lots of laughing and great food as usual. :)

Dad built a zip line in the backyard for the kids and it was a huge hit! Here's Owen looking very cool calm and collected.

A quiet moment with Molly and her drink cuppy.

Sam was on the porch with Amelia, Lydia and Molly, and they were laughing so hard! I forget what the topic was, but all the girls were having such a great time. Molly was all wrapped up in her blanket because she was "chilly".

Love this picture... Molly was biting Sam's foot with a muppet puppet and then giggling like crazy. You can't help but laugh at this.

Riley, Allysa and Ellie. This picture pretty much captures their personalities perfectly.

Molly pushing around her stroller

Owen and I...

Nirchi's pizza is a must during trip's home. Memories of so many years involve this pizza.

Mom and (most) of the grandkids...

Dad built an air over water pump up bottle rocket launcher and the kids constructed rockets with 2 lt. bottles and paper stock fins. It worked awesome and they loved shooting them off...

In the back room, Molly reading books.

Some serious tractor driving with Grandpa. Funny almost identical expressions..

Molly all tuckered out in her stroller after a morning of serious playing.

Here we all are with Aunt Karen and Uncle Larry also visiting from Alexandria, VA.

After our weekend in New York, we spent a few days with Allison's parents and family in Lancaster.

Driving somwhere.. Molly, Owen and Shaun....

Grandma, Molly & Great Grandma. Molly was showing off her very fashionable double sunglasses look.

Over a year ago, Owen won a goldfish at the E-Town fair... Goldie we affectionately took home and cared for... We tried to prep Owen that the fair fish sometimes don't live too long... but Goldie was a warrier and suprised us all! He lived through the winter and when we moved, Owen gave him to Grandma to take care of. During our trip home, Owen decided that Goldie would be happy living in Grandma's fish pond with some new friends. Writing this a few months later, I'm happy to report that he's doing well!

Grandma with the Molly fish in the pool.

We made so many wonderful memories during our visit and cherish the time we spend together.

Thursday July 7th we flew back to Seattle and made the drive home to Vancouver. One happy detail about our trip home is that we brought our dog with us! Bailey was small enough to check in the cabin, and he rode in his carrier under the seat with no noises or issues the entire trip.

Molly's First Haircut June 11th

2011-08-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

Molly's hair was starting to get a little crazy! She has beautiful blond curls, but it was time to even things up a little bit. Mommy was so worried that her curls would go away but they didn't!

Molly was actually quite excited to sit in the McQueen chair and now every time we go back to the mall where this kid's salon is, she loudly exclaims.... Yaahhooo!! I want to get my hair cut!

Here's the princess after with her balloon. She was so happy showing off her new look. Of course I couldn't get her to sit still and pose for a proper "after" shot.

Greater Vancouver Zoo

2011-08-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delays in posts..... It's been a busy summer so far eh!

Early in the summer, in-between all the rain and clouds during the week, we were fortunate to have nice weather on the weekends! In June, we thought it would be fun to take a day and explore the Vancouver Zoo. http://www.gvzoo.com/ It's about a half-hour from our house, South and East of the city center in Aldergrove. As far as zoo's go, it' ok... I think we've been spoiled in the past visiting the Columbus Zoo with my brother which has a more open habitat style of containment. While the Vancouver Zoo is spread out and nice to walk around, the layout is reminiscent of older zoos, with square pens and chain link fence separating guests from the critters. Reading over the website, it seems that they are trying to improve this over time and have a desire to create more open habitats. Their newest area, the North American Wilds, is only perimeter fenced, and you have to take a safari style ride through it.

They do have quite a variety of animals and some of the highlights at least for Owen & Molly were the black panther, the giraffes and the Hippo's.

Owen & Allison at the entrance... this was at the end of the day and Molly was sacked out in the stroller.

We were able to catch the feeding show with the Lions & Bengal Tiger. It's pretty intimidating how fast these animals move for how big they are. They had bleachers set up along the path and we watched and listened as they talked about the animals and fed them big chunks of meat.

The Giraffes and their little observers.

Molly thought the Bison were cows. Mooooooooo.

They have a Grizzly bear named Shadow that was rescued as an abandoned cub and brought to the zoo for care. She was sunning herself in her pond...

Hello there.

There's quite a population of bald eagles here in the greater Vancouver area. We've seen nests along the water and see them flying on a semi-frequent basis. This one was flying over the zoo.

Watching the raccoons have their lunch.

They have a small reptile house that has lots of great lizards, small alligators, salamanders, snakes (much to Allison's dismay) and a variety of geckos. This was the most unique and colorful.

Just one of the rarest scenes up here.... blue sky.

Molly was so excited to see the hippos. The first time we walked by they were in the back of the habitat, sunning themselves in a pit of mud. We were fortunate to catch them feeding on dinner and got to see them up close.

Momma and Joey.

Britannia, The Chief & Shannon Falls

2011-06-29T00:18:00.000-07:00

For the last weekend in May, the weather was looking good, so we decided to head up the Sea to Sky highway and see some of the sites with the kids. First up was the Britannia Mine tour. The site has recently gone through a rehabilitation, and everything is clean and organized. The history of the mine is captivating... so many stories of a community knit together through success and tragedy. It was also very isolated up until the 1950's, when rail and roads were constructed from North Vancouver. Prior to this, the only way in was by boat. You can read more at http://www.bcmm.ca/

This truck was donated by a mine up in Kamloops, BC and is on display at the museum. These trucks are typically used in open pit mines. Britannia had some small pit mines, but the tunnels and terrain were too small/extreme for trucks, so they had to be creative in their use of rail cars and aerial trams to move materials.

While we see it every day, it still doesn't get old. The landscape scenes are really beautiful.

Here's Molly and I getting ready for the underground mine tour. Owen heard from some people coming out of the tour that they were going to turn out the lights to show how dark it was in the mine and he suddenly got very nervous about it. It was kindof funny though because he was walking up to everyone that was joining us in line and saying "Excuse me.... have you been on this tour and do you know when they will turn out the lights?"

Sporting our hardhats!

In the mine, they demonstrated several methods of drilling holes in the walls to place the explosive charges. All the tools were run off compressed air and the earliest hammer drills were SO loud. It wasn't uncommon for the mine workers to sustain high levels of hearing loss. The newer versions were quieter and easier to manage, but still deafening.

The gravity fed ore processing structure is simply massive. Currently you can only view from the ground level, but they are raising funds for a project to expand visitor access to the upper levels.

Owen & Molly checking out one of the train cars used to move men and materials in and out of the mine.

After leaving the museum, we drove further up the highway into Squamish. Just before the town, there is a massive granite dome called "The Chief". It rises 2300ft above sea level and is a very popular destination for rock climbers. To bring this into scale, I highlighted a red box, which is what is captured in the next picture.

And here I highlighted two climbers moving along the rock face.

After watching the climbers for some time, we headed back down the highway to visit Shannon Falls park. This is the third highest falls in the province reaching up just under 1100ft. The park grounds are beautiful and we had fun exploring around the trails. The trees are just massive in this region. Here's Owen on the stump of old growth that has a "new" tree growing out of it.

And the falls....

Owen, Molly and I at the base view area.

We hiked up to the higher outlook and here's Allison & Owen at the viewpoint.

Heading back down the stairs...

Me and my little monkey. Molly kept tickling the back of my neck and laughing hysterically while we were here. Unfortunately she also managed to lose her sunglasses on these trails somewhere.

There's so many big rocks and objects to climb on... it's a little boys dreamland... and Mommy enjoyed it too.

There's another huge tree in the picnic area at the base of the park. Owen & Molly had to climb in of course.

A sweet moment with the kids.

Seriously...I'm in trouble in about 14 years.

This is the panorama looking over the bay going into Squamish.

Busy Day in May!

2011-06-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Allison proclaimed "We need to get out of the house!!", so we planned a pretty full day on May 14th. It started with a return trip to the Vancouver Aquarium. Part of the perk of being a member is that they have early admission on weekends, and access to a hand-on science room for the kids. Here's Owen getting close up to a very hairy looking hermit crab... They also had sea anemone's that you could touch. They would latch onto your finger and try to poison you, but they aren't able to break through your skin, so they let go after a few seconds.

Molly had loads of fun watching the big starfish move around. This is in a section where they have small aquariums and terrariums low to the ground for the little ones.

Owen and Molly both love watching the fish.

They have a special theme right now call Birds Up Close. Owen and I met Mr. Peregrine here and learned about the fastest bird on the planet.... He has cataracts in his eyes, which is why he lives at the zoo now.

One of my favorite exhibits is the little sand eels. They look like a bunch of plants growing out of the sand, but as you look closer, they are alive... and slowly moving in and out of their holes.

The aquarium is in Stanley park, which is just outside the city center. They have a lot of great green space, trails, playgrounds, and gardens. After leaving the aquarium, we walked around the park for a while. Allison likes the "twisty tree".

The flowers were blooming in the garden and I captured a few nice pictures

The First Nation Natives have a large display in the park, which includes a train ride. This of course became Owen's thing that he wanted to do for his whole life... so we went on a ride so he could cross it off his bucket list. :) Seems that Molly is a big train fan now too. You can just see the excitement in her face.

When we got of the train, it had started to rain, so we ran back to the car, only to find we had over-stayed our 3 hour parking pass by 15 minutes and had received a ticket... We still had our Pennsylvania plates on the car, so Allison aka "the persuader", called the parking authority and complained about how it was pretty un-welcoming to out of town tourists to have a parking ticket after only 15 minutes, and they waived the fee!

After the park, we decided to take the gondola ride up to the top of on of our local ski hills, Grouse mountain. A co-worker had given me a free pass that he wasn't able to use, and this was the last day of the season that we could use it. Keep in mind this is the middle of May... and on top of the mountain, they still had +250cm of snow base! It was pretty wet, but they still had one trail open. They have two grizzly bears that live at the Ski-Resort and they had come out of hibernation earlier in the week. I didn't get pictures :( , but they were impressive creatures. Funny too.... rolling around in the snow and wrestling with each other.

Here's Molly and Owen along one of the paths they had cleared down to the pavement. As we were walking along, Molly was copying everything that Owen was doing.

And our little fashion queen...

After walking around some and catching the spectacular views of the mountains and city, it was dinner time, and we were fortunate to get a fantastic corner seat in the restaurant at the ski lodge. Here's Owen taking it all in. In the picture, you can see the container ships waiting in the bay, and the city center in the upper left. The land mass in the middle of the water is Stanley park... and you can see Lion's Gate bridge right in the middle of the picture, connecting the city with North Vancouver.

Here is a gondola heading down the mountain.

At the bottom of the Gondola, they have a habitat with timber wolves... we walked up the trail and were able to see the white one catching a nap in the sun.

Molly and I were howling at the wolves... much to Allison's amusement.

Random Stuff

2011-06-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a collection of some random events and pictures....

Owen really wanted to build up a big geotrax circuit... The family room has quite a bit of space in it, so we set out and made a new masterpiece! Molly loves to play with it too and she now has her own little pink car to chase down owen's trains. :)

Early in May, we made our inaugural trip to Bellingham, Washington. We timed the border crossing at a bad time mid-day on Saturday and we waited over an hour to get through, but we've since found better times and alternate crossings to minimize the wait. Our interest was primarily to see how long the trip would take, as we believe we will make it a fairly regular trip to do some shopping. Goods are roughly 20-25% more expensive in BC, and then we must pay a 12% sales tax. The trip takes just under an hour, and they have a Target! This border market is at the Peace Arch crossing.

Molly dressed herself in this little ensemble... jammies, fluffy dress shoes, train engineer hat and fairy wings. Not sure what she was telling Owen, but he thought it was funny. The kids are so great together these days.

We enrolled Owen in a swimming class 2 nights/week at a local community pool. They had great instructors and Owen really loved it. While he's in class, the rest of us can enjoy a swim in their wave pool. Here's Molly in her pink crocks, suit and coverup, looking very grown up and ready to go swimming!

Owen's school held their annual carnival days and we spent the evening in the bounce houses and doing activities. Molly waited so patiently and then sat quietly while she was transformed into "MollyKitty".

Now picture Molly smiling and saying "meeeeoooww".

She loves her little stroller that her cousin Madison gave to her and pushes her dolly around the house like a little mommy.

And I have to share a story that made me so proud of Owen. The fence in front of the house was starting to turn green with all the rain... and not so much sun. Oh, did I mention it rains a lot here? :) Anyhow, it wasn't raining for an afternoon, so I asked Owen if he could help me scrub up the fence to make it white again. He happily agreed and was excited to fill the bucket with soap/water and get out the brush and start working. I went on to mow the lawn, checking back on him periodically. He worked so hard and carefully and did a wonderful job. He got all but one section done when he walked over to me and said "Dad, I tried really hard to finish, but my hands are really cold and they feel funny, so can I stop?" Then I realize he was dipping his arm into the bucket of cold water every time to rinse the brush.... and he worked at it until his arm was getting numb from the cold. Now this is some serious work ethic from the 6 year old!

Here's the fence all done and sparkling

Capilano Bridge

2011-05-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

On the last Saturday in April, we needed to get out of the house, so we ventured out to a famous local attraction... the Capilano Bridge! The original rope bridge was created on the site in 1889 by a land developer, and it was reconstructed with wire cables in 1903. It quickly became a popular destination in the region and has been every since. You can read more about the bridge here: http://www.capbridge.com

The bridge itself is a simple suspension bridge and is 136m long, rising 70m above the river below.

Here's Owen at the entrance...

And my back-packing buddy

These totem poles were created and put on display by local First Nations in the 1930's.

The bridge itself is impressive. If there are a lot of people on it, it can roll quite a bit, but if you walk in the middle of the platform, it's not as noticeable....

Owen was nervous at first, but then he really liked it.

I was amazed at just how big the trees are in this area. Most are hundreds and some approaching 1000 years old. Just think.....these trees had been here on location already for generations, when Columbus was making land discoveries! Pictures don't do it justice... they are majestic.

There is a walking tour called the treetops adventure, which is comprised of several suspended bridges high in the trees and paths around the cliff ponds. Along the way, you have several stops to gather stamps at trivia kiosks. Owen and Molly had a blast trekking around.

Allison and Owen at one of the higher sections.... No bouncing! :)

This is a view from the ground of the same section.

The bridge from the outlook over the canyon.

Owen wanted to take his picture next to one of the trees, so all his friends could see how big it was.

Facts about Owen's tree.

This is the view North from the middle of the bridge.

Owen & Molly in one of the Totem poles.

And finally our adventurers with their certificates. Molly is saying "cheese".. hence the grimacing smile.

Earlier in the day, we stopped at subway for lunch in Edgemont, which is a nice little suburb of North Vancouver. Owen declared that the meatball subs in Canada were "de-lish". Also, we found a great cup-cake shop where Molly devastated a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and sparkly sprinkles. It's called the "diva" and it was perfect.

Easter Weekend

2011-05-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

Good Friday is a national holiday in Canada, so I had the day off work. Several neighbors had let us know about the local community center egg hunt, which was planned for Friday morning. The center is over behind Owen's school and an easy morning walk. Wow, what a turnout! They were quite organized...with each age group appropriately separated. Tim Horton's had a mobile station there, providing free coffee and mocha to the mom's and dads!

Molly and Owen brought their classic Peep Easter baskets, which everyone thought were so cool! Here's Molly planning her strategy.

Owen took some pictures of mommy all by himself.

Princess and her pigtails, on the prowl for chocolate eggs! She was so funny... getting quite excited when she spotted them in the grass.

While I was helping Molly, Allison was cheering on Owen in his area. Allison said the pace at which they picked up all the eggs was pretty impressive.....

After the egg hunt, we stayed for about an hour and played on the playground at the community center. They had two gyms, swings and see saws... Molly loved going down the twin slide together with her brother.

Capturing the sound here, Molly would laugh hysterically every time Owen gave her a push. Higher brother....higher!

This is pure joy right here....

They bounced on the see-saw for at least 20 minutes with several other little kids, changing sides, Owen standing the middle... Daddy on one side and a pile of kids on the other.... what fun

Saturday, the weather was beautiful so we spent most of the day outdoors. We went down to Rocky Point Park for the afternoon. There's a small water park, playground, miles of hiking/biking paths, and a boat launch. For some history, Port Moody was the original planned termination for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, as declared in 1879. The railway was completed to Port Moody in 1885, with passenger travel starting in 1886. At this time, the town was officially booming, with all hoping it would become a west coast metropolis. This growth lasted a whole year, until a branch line was run to Vancouver, and development fell flat. Several business' stayed in the area, and the town officially incorporated in 1913. Today, the city is home to about 30,000 residents, including us!

This view from the boat launch is quite beautiful.

Allison and Owen watching boats....

Owen at the back of the inlet.

In the park, we had Fish & Chips at Pajo's for dinner, then we had to stop at the ice cream shop, which is owned by one of Owen's classmate's mom. The popular vote was "Yummy!!"

We found a local church that we like, and attended there for Easter services. When ever we trying to take nice pictures, of course the kids can't work together, but you get the idea... Owen was good in this moment, but I think Molly's thought bubble reads "seriously? You people want me to stand next to him and smile? I will be right here chillin against the fireplace"

Then the silliness began....

After we got back from church, I got Molly to let me take some pictures in the front yard.... Our little girl is growing up so fast and I really cherish these moments....

First week

2011-05-14T23:39:00.000-07:00

We spent most of Thursday during the day, unpacking and Friday I went into the office to catch up on some work before the weekend.... Friday afternoon it was pretty nice weather and we just all needed to get out of the house and take a break from unpacking. So we headed up Burnaby mountain after I got home, to do some hiking around with the kids.

This is a view looking north over Burrard Inlet. This picture does the in-person view no justice.

Molly was quite happy to get outside and run around. Lots of laughs of course...

Daddy! This way to the swings!!

Lots of playgrounds in the parks around here, which Owen just loves...

The hoodlums on a rock in the park.

Owen wanted us to take this picture to send to his friends from school back in Pennsylvania.

The daffodils were blooming in the park... this picture turned out very cute.

Saturday it was raining (shocking I know).... so we went into Stanley Park to visit the Vancouver Aquarium. Maybe it was the weather, but it was packed! We purchased season passes as they paid for themselves if we went only twice. What a great aquarium! It isn't as big as Baltimore, but the quality is very high and they have a lot of displays showing off a lot of local aquatic life. They also have Beluga whales, sea lions, otters, dolphins etc... Owen and Molly just loved it and we will certainly be going back again sometime soon.

Love this picture. Molly was just enamored by the "fishies" in this tank. I think she would have stood there for the rest of the afternoon...

In the lower level, they have an entire room dedicated to snakes, spiders and frogs and this was an interactive display where the kids could climb under the habitat and stand up in a bubble. Owen loved this!

They are doing a water works improvement project on our street... adding new fire hydrants and improving the main supply line... Owen and Molly watched them work for quite some time.

The queen with her new galoshes. She loves the pink stripes!

Molly was hanging out with me after we got our cable up and running and was watching the disney channel in our bed. I came back in to this scene... kicked back, crossed leg. I laughed out loud.

Our "Home"

2011-05-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

In January, Allison and I took a discovery trip up to Vancouver for a week. We spent most of this time experiencing the area and searching for potentially suitable housing.

The real estate market in Vancouver is similar to the west coast USA, with some issues specific to this area further driving up market value. So a 1300sqft townhouse will run between $300/400K and single family homes between $500K and +1 Million depending on where you are located. The market in general has been on a rocket ship for over 10 years now, rarely appreciating less than 5%, and usually more. As a result, this has brought in significant investment dollars into real estate. Of the rental homes that we looked at, more than 50% were owned by investors from China or the Middle east. As remote investments, they were usually not cared for particularly well.

The other phenomena that we discovered is that a significant number of people rent because it takes a reasonably high family income to purchase property. One agent told us that they typically have less than 3% vacancy of rental inventory in this area and attractive properties put up for rent are often rented and back off the market in days, not weeks or months.

In quite random fashion, we came across a Craig-list rental ad for a home that was close to the office. After calling the rental management company, we were surprised to find out that it was a family, also taking an international assignment, who was looking for a long term lease tenant. The property was beautiful and the more we researched it, the more perfect it sounded. It was less than 4 miles to my office, the local school was rated very high and Owen could walk to it... it had a hot tub, a huge deck... great yard etc.. etc..

After looking at this and several other properties, we came back and negotiated an offer and were quickly approved and granted the lease. Shortly after, I met the owners, who were so happy that a family was going to take care of their house rather than interim tenants. Randomly, I had decided to sell my car back in Pennsylvania and I had seen a Mini Cooper S in the driveway when we viewed the house. I inquired about it and yes they were looking to sell... so we struck a deal on the car. They also introduced us to some friends of theirs who were a great help as we moved up here. During this all, we had a good laugh about how we were going to step in and assume their life.

Several friends and family have inquired just exactly where we are at in Vancouver... So if you look at the map below, you can see Vancouver itself is a peninsula. The actual metro downtown area is directly north of the "Vancouver" text on the map. We are inside the red square, which is east of the city about 12 miles. So jump down to the next map for a close-up view..

The house has a Port Moody address, but we are more or less on the borders of Port Moody, Coquitlam and Burnaby. Burnaby mountain is between us, and Simon Frasier University is on top of that mountain. We are close to pretty much everything and are starting to develop a new reference where if it takes longer than 10 minutes to get where we want to go, it's a "long trip" :)

The Big Trip

2011-05-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night was a late one... after a quiet evening with Allison's parents, we spend the late hours finishing packing.... we need this with us... that can be checked... why didn't we put that on the truck?? Maybe we were up too late because we knew that sleep would bring big changes for us. Fall asleep in the US and the next pillow we hit would be in Canada... Google maps tells us it would take 1 day and 23 hours to drive 2892 miles straight through. It was a strange feeling missing both extremes... not scary... not terribly exciting. Allison's last question of the day... "are we really going to do this?"

Alarms went off at an un-natural hour.... I had loaded our rental with suitcases the night before, and we had laid out all the stuff for the kids so we could just roll them out of bed and into the car. Quick showers, and lots of tearful hugs with Grandma and Grandpa... and we were on the road for the renowned international transportation hub of Harrisburg, PA. :)

First order of business was returning our rental. Our 2011 Chevy Traverse was our friend for 2-1/2 weeks. Yes it seats 8 people in relative comfort and with the rear seats folded down has a cavernous interior... but any claims from the General about fuel efficiency of this platform are complete lies. Maybe if you run through a tank driving 55mph at a constant pace in the flats of Georgia you could achieve the claimed 24mpg highway, but normal driving is waaaaay less. Drop off was easy at Harrisburg, right in the attached car park. They didn't have baggage carts in the drop off area so Allison and I each had an ensemble of car seat, tied to wheely bag, attached to roll-on, with a computer balanced on top. Owen was pushing Molly in the stroller and the sight of us walking into the airport I'm sure it made people point and snicker.. but we only had to make it to the check in area.

The gate agent had NO sense of humor, but he was efficient and we got all our stuff checked in. Early AM on a Wednesday and the airport was pretty empty. Security was quick and easy. Here we are collecting all our stuff and getting shoes back on the kids before heading to the gate.

Molly was so excited to check out the airplanes through the windows.

Almost ready to board!

The kids were SO good on the flights out. Unfortunately it wasn't direct, but our only stop was a quick one in Chicago. The first leg was a quick one, but Molly took some time to catch up on her sleep after the early morning.

Chicago to Vancouver is about a 4-1/2 to 5 hour ride depending on the headwind. To be honest I don't even remember how long it ended up being. The kids were SO good. We reserved window and middle seats in two rows... Allison had someone in the aisle seat, and I was fortunate to have an empty seat next to me, so I had some space to put stuff and easily get out with Molly for strolls up and down the aisle several times. The flight was smooth with almost no turbulence, so no drama ensued. Toward the end, Molly lost interest in movies and games so we read books and walked some more.

Owen was a star travel guy... playing DS, watching movies, working on activity books and talking. He brought his stuffed friend Max the penguin, who very much enjoyed seeing the snowy mountains because it reminded him of his icy home in the arctic.

When we arrived, we had to stop in immigration and apply for Allison's work permit and get the kids their visitor records. When I had done this several weeks earlier, I had come through on a Sunday night and it was a quick 20 minute process. This time, we were victims of some unfortunate timing where a plane from China had landed shortly before us. So there was quite a long line in immigration. 2 hours waiting in line was not fun after a long flight, but we were so proud of the kids again as they were patient and avoided full meltdowns. Once we got through immigration, we collected our bags and made our way to the car rental area.

We had a pretty good plan initially where I was supposed to leave Allison's car at extended parking and we could just pack it up and drive to our new home. But... I had to leave it at the house so the moving crew could replace the broken windshield before we returned. So I drove the newly acquired Mini Cooper to the airport. The process of putting bags in that car along with 4 people would be something to show off at a circus event, so we rented a car for a day and split up. Allison took Molly and the bags and I got to give Owen his first ride in the Mini. He was pretty excited!

We were here! We made it! Driving home, Owen commented on the mountains, which were clear in view... wow dad... those are some big mountains... and there's snow on them still! He fell asleep shortly thereafter... what a trooper.

Last few days

2011-05-06T01:16:00.000-07:00

On Sunday April 2nd, we planned a going-away party for Owen and a small group of friends of his choice at Ozzy's in Reading. What a great time was had by all!

Owen and neighbor buddies Michael and Matteo,

Owen and his friend Bret from Church

Allison captured this picture of Owen mid-jump...

Jessica (on the right) has been Owen's friend since he was an infant. They went to the same day-care for all the years when they were growing up and she still has a special place in Owen's heart.

Luke and Emma... friends from church

Mr. John, his friend from school

Playing in the bounce houses.

Allison and Maria

Allison and Keely.. who is also Owen's favorite bus driver!

The group... also with Owen's friend Jacob.

And the requisite silly faces!

Monday we got out and about and visited the Strasburg Train museum for the last time.... Owen loves this museum as he is our little train fanatic.

All Aboard!

Tuesday was a day of packing and finality. At the end of the day, we had our suitcases in the car and the kids all prepped and ready to go. Our flight was at 8am in Harrisburg.

March... whew

2011-05-06T00:41:00.000-07:00

March was probably one of the most challenging months we've ever lived through. So many things had to come together and we were only able to accomplish this great feat through the gracious help of friends, neighbors and our very supportive families.

We wrapped up February with Allison having her last day at All About Women, and me finishing all my 2010 team performance reviews from Lancaster. This was my last major activity with my team in Lancaster before transitioning my focus to the office in Burnaby. Before a send-off dinner with the management team in Lancaster, Allison and I were killing a half-hour, sitting in the car together having a coffee and the sadness of leaving our work relationships hit us both pretty hard. It's dark and raining....and we're both crying. I would have laughed out loud at you if you said that I would react like that a few weeks earlier to changes at work...

I guess it was the gravity of realizing what I was leaving..... I'm proud to have served as a manager that my direct reports felt comfortable communicating with openly. In speaking with every one during appraisals, I was humbled by the genuine thanks for my support and dozens of examples shared recalling where I was able to make a difference for them.

So March began with me in Vancouver for the first week... On the 5th when I got back, we sat down around the kitchen table and nailed down a plan to try and get this process over as quick as we could. I have to laugh as we did this with Molly's crayons on some calendar templates. The plan was to prep for the final move as much as possible in the 2nd week, I would return to Vancouver in the 3rd week and be back home on the 18th. We scheduled the movers to arrive at the house on Monday the 21st, with the truck leaving mid-week. Then I would travel back to Vancouver for the last week of the month, to meet our household items on the truck at customs... unpack into the house, fly back to Lancaster... gather up the family and make the final trip to our new home on April 6th. Craziness "eh?".

So plan in hand we went to work. Thankfully we had been "purging" during the month prior, going through closets, the basement, pantry, shed, garage and getting rid of stuff we just didn't need any more. We staged all the stuff for storage in the garage during the week, rented a truck on the weekend and with the help of a good friend we moved it into storage. Here's Owen after helping unload.

Just for the comedy of it, here's Molly practicing her Pilates with Allison,

During my travels, we talked quite a bit over the phone.. I have to laugh at this one as Allison called and Molly was telling me about Bailey wearing her glasses. Owen took some pictures to document the deed.

and more for poor Bailey.. the victim of Owen's creativity. Why wouldn't a fun-loving Westie enjoy being adorned with a purple feather boa! Look into his eyes... I think this was a new low point for him. :)

Both of our parents were 100% behind our plans, all mixed with some pain in knowing we would be thousands of miles away instead of hours up the road. We have always had great relationships with our in-laws and the kids loved and enjoyed quality time with their grandparents over the years. This was a really difficult part of this decision for us... knowing that we would limit to some extent the personal interaction we would all have in the coming years. As we worked through this month, we couldn't have done it without their help.

Here's Molly mixing up some yummy cookies with Grandma Lynn

Owen helping to patch and paint with Grandpa.

When I returned on the 18th, my parents graciously offered to watch Molly and Owen over the weekend so Allison and I could make the final push for preparing the house and packing before the movers arrived. We also had to plan and pack enough clothes for the remaining time in the states.. all while considering we would have to travel with whatever we kept behind. The kids had a wonderful time with mom and dad over this weekend and I'll post edit this with some pictures later as I don't have them with me.

The movers showed up on Monday morning en force! There was a scheduling error that resulted in two packing crews... so what was a 2 day job was completed in about 8 hours. We changed our plans in the middle of the day to move into a local hotel because the house was just full of boxes. Also Allison's car was getting packed into the trailer so we rented a vehicle that we would also use until we made the final move. Thus began our nomadic life! Owen was still in school during this last week, so it was up early in the morning to catch the bus at school.. then meet the crew as they planned for loading. They couldn't bring the moving trailer right to the house because of length restrictions on our road, so they setup a shuttle with a uhaul truck and parked the tractor/trailer in a parking lot about 3 miles up the road. There's a long story here also about the driver's tractor breaking down on a local hill, and losing a day in the process, but that's all in the details. Tuesday night, our house was empty. The next few days we spent cleaning and painting to leave the house in show condition.

Thursday was Owen's last day of school and he was a little sad, but excited at the same time. Thursday night we transitioned over to living with Allison's parents where Allison and the kids would stay for the following week while I was in Vancouver.

Here's Molly with Grandpa checking out the birds!

And Grandma with her little girls...

Allison made time to have some fun with the kids while I was away on my last trip, visiting the hands-on house. Owen is the consummate propeller man....

And Molly loves to dress up...

Play shopping...

And of course drive tractors... what every girl dreams of... Uncle Donny would be proud!

More tractor riding together...

So for the last week of March, I was in Vancouver working, waiting for a call from the driver to let me know when he would be in town. I had to meet the goods at customs to receive them and pay for the import duties. Downside is that some of the driver's schedule was mis-communicated and instead of arriving mid-week, he was in town on Friday afternoon. I had to extend my trip by a day so we could get the truck unpacked. I also went through the process of buying a car in Vancouver during this week. April 1 was our 11th anniversay...

I met the driver and the unpacking crew early Saturday morning and I was amazed at how quickly it went. Thankfully the weather cooperated and it didn't rain. By 2pm, they were done and pulling away. The move was mostly a success with some minor casualties, including the windshield of Allison's car. Credit to the moving crew as they arranged for the repairs and had it fixed by the time we arrived back in Vancouver.

I stayed up most of Saturday night getting bedrooms unpacked, beds made and the kitchen unpacked to a functional level. I got a few hours of sleep and caught an early morning flight out of Vancouver on Sunday.

Rest of February

2011-04-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

After we got back from Florida, we decided to have a small get-together at the house for the kid's birthdays. It was more to have a chance to see friends and family again before moving plans really got into motion. We always have so much fun when everyone is in the house.... grandparents, great-grandma, aunts, uncles, friends... lots of laughing and always good food! Rather than making cakes we served up donuts for a treat. They have always been a favorite of the kids and we had fun picking them out!

Here we are before the donut feast started!

Owen enjoying a cream filled... his favorite.

Molly usually goes with the brute force method. Jam as much in as possible and chew... sometimes laughing and once in a while sneezing if she get's a powdered one, which is usually quite funny until we have to clean up all the bits of sneezed donut.

And we collected a few pictures of our little Molly over the month... She's taking on such a bigger than life personality. Constantly telling us stories and making sure we know how she's feeling and what she thinks should be going on around her.

The classic morning outfit of pink piggie jammies, Minnie ears and sunglasses. "Did I do that?"

Probably a year ago now, we gave Owen some goggles to wear in the bathtub because he was freaking out about getting soap & water in his eyes when he was washing his hair. Well, Molly of course, needed to have some also after seeing brother wear these super cool things... she calls them her "goggies" and they are too big of course, but I have to laugh out loud every time she wears them...

Allison picked up a pair of big-girl sunglasses a few months back and Molly has become obsessed with them also. She has been known to nap with them on, and there doesn't need to be sun out for her to insist on wearing them. Try to not smile and say hi to this little diva when she greets you on one of her shopping trips. :)

Disney Trip 2011

2011-04-16T00:04:00.003-07:00

Both the kids birthdays are in the first week of February.. Owen on 2/6 and Molly on 2/5. Yeah it's fun remembering that when we're filling out forms! Before we were considering this assignment, we had already made plans to take them to Disney World for a few days as a birthday present for them both. After we had decided to move, it was even more perfect an opportunity because we probably wouldn't get back down to Disney World for a few years.

To make it even better, my brother Seth, his wife Mary and their girls also planned to come down and join us.... then as a final surprise, Allison's parents happened to be in Florida on the same week, so they stopped in for 2 days to join us in the parks with the kids.

The trip was so much fun. Molly was the perfect age to be excited about everything and Owen was now big enough to ride some of the rides "that he's wanted to for his whole life!". We had a rental car to drive to the parks and stayed at the Disney property Port Orleans. The room was basic, but nice. We've stayed at many of the local hotels, on and off the Disney property, and we still prefer being on site as it makes everything so easy. So here's some pictures from the week.

Our little travelers at Philadelphia airport, ready to go! The flights were great and we had no issues with the kids. They have flown several times with us now, so we're prepared with stuff to keep them occupied... and they know all the rules. NO kicking the seat in front of you! :)

Owen is obsessed with trains... here he is showing little sister the ropes on the shuttle tram at Orlando Airport.

Our little man.

Seth and Mary drove down with their family, and met us at Epcot on the first day. Seth gritted his teeth and did not vomit after riding Space with Alyssa. The first characters we saw were Chip & Dale. Dale has a red nose for those of you that are wondering.

On to the sea where Molly just loved the aquarium. I think the kids would have spent most of the afternoon there if we let them. As usual, Turtle Talk with Crush was a huge hit.

Still in Epcot for dinner and we ran into the Chipmunks again.

First Mickey sighting of the trip!

Making memories.

Magic Kingdom on day 2. Molly on the ever-favorite carousel.

And brother right behind her.

Molly was so silly with her 3D glasses. Here she is laughing it up with Aunt Mary.

Two peas in a pod. Owen and Riley in Tomorrow Land.

I can say enough how happy we were with how the kids played and occupied themselves during meals. This was a pretty typical picture of the gang as we waited for food. Busy coloring, filling in mazes, playing tic-tac-toe. It was great to see.

Molly's birthday was a rough day... for Owen. Unfortunately he came down with a 12 hour bug that we discovered as he bolted to the bathroom at 7am in the morning and threw up. Then again... and again.. and again. My poor little guy must have thrown up at least 10 times or more every half hour or so during the morning and early afternoon. Finally during the middle of the afternoon I packed him up and we drove to the resort store and picked up some ginger ale... after some sips the sugar and hydration kicked in and he was able to sleep for a few hours. When he got up, we hydrated some more, no more puking and we were on the mend. We met the family for dinner at downtown disney, where Grandma and Grandpa joined us as well. Allison, Molly and the rest of everyone enjoyed Animal Kingdom during the day.

Molly and her cousin "mommies" Ellie and Alyssa.

Dinner with the family... Molly's birthday cookie and scoop of icecream!

The next day, Owen was back in shape and ready to take on the world. For his birthday we took him to the new RC car shop at Downtown disney, Ridemakerz. Here, the kids can pick out the type of car they want, wheels, stickers, build the car and test it out. Owen was in his glory.

Chef Mikey's

Riding the teacups with crazy Uncle Seth!

My princess.
Owen with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible.

At Hollywood Studios on our last day... waiting in line at the Toy Story ride. Molly was watching Mr. Potato head. :)

After we made it home to Philadelphia, we told Owen about our decision to move to Canada. He took it reasonably well initially, then as he started thinking about it more, he really took it pretty hard and cried about moving away from our house, his school, his grandparents and all his friends. Allison is in the back-seat crying with him and I'm trying to hold it together piloting the car down the turnpike. After talking things through with him for 20 minutes or so, he fell asleep and we had an awful quiet ride home. The next morning, he was like a different kid... we looked at pictures of Vancouver, and he started getting excited.

Where are we?

2011-04-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

So much has happened in the past year, I've given up on making an effort to post major milestones and I'm just going to fast forward to our life as it's happening.

In late 2010 I was approached to take a 3 year international assignment with my company in the position of development manager for our site in Vancouver, BC. After many long discussions and several trips to Vancouver to evaluate and decide if this was right for us, we accepted the opportunity in early 2011.

This meant big changes for us. Allison had to quit her job, we had to put our house on the market, sell a car, organize packing all of our stuff up for a move, find housing in Canada, get drivers licenses, buy a car in Canada, organize renters insurance, car insurance, sort out medical benefits, apply for work permits, get passports for the kids, get utilities closed off in PA and started in Canada, change mailing addresses, setup new emails, phones, visit with family, attend going away parties, get Owen out of school in the US, and then registered and setup in a school in Canada, establish bank accounts, ... oh and all this with me traveling every other week back and forth between Vancouver and Lancaster during February and March..... and it was time to complete all performance reviews at the office.

In the middle of it all, we're both on this emotional roller-coaster.. for Allison it's a huge life change... saying goodbye for a time to family, co-workers and friends that she was very close with... for me, also leaving family and a fantastic team of engineers that I help to build and develop over the past 4 years in Lancaster. I was gone over Valentines day, and our anniversary.... making it more difficult yet. We laughed, we cried, we fought about details, we lost a lot of sleep, ate a lot of ice cream and in the end, made it through.

Allison was the glue through this process. I tried to manage all the details getting setup in Canada, and she did everything back in PA, all while taking care of our wonderful kids, who seem to have been able to magically adapt and take on this new life without a second look back.

So we committed in late January, and kicked it all into motion.... I'll pick up the blog from this point...

August 2009 Disney Trip

2010-03-20T12:44:00.002-07:00

We went back to Mickey's house to celebrate Allison's birthday at the end of August. Allison's parents also joined us for part of the week which we very much enjoyed. Yeah, it was pretty hot. :) A lot of schools around the country started school this week, so the parks were actually pretty empty, which translated into very short lines for pretty much everything during our entire visit!

So here we are getting ready to leave Harrisburg. Molly thankfully behaved on the plane ride down and back.

Not sure who is having more fun here.

We had breakfast on Allison's birthday at Chef Mickey's in the contemporary resort. Funny story about this picture though. Molly was throwing a little bit of a fit when Mickey stopped by and he was really trying his best to entertain her. So after he left we figured out why. See that brown spot soaking up her outfit above her right leg? Massive blowout which I had a great time cleaning up. ie; how to use a half a pack of wipes for one occasion.

Birthday cupcakes at one of her most favorite places in the world.

Owen riding the carousel with Grandpa!

And Grandma was brave enough to ride on Goofy's Barnstormer! Kudos to Grandma for doing this again in the rain later in the week!

We hit Hollywood Studios early one morning and found a few character locations that were pretty much empty.... no lines.

And the UP crew! Owen loves this movie and I think Doug is hilarious.

Ahh yes, a boy and his machine.

We spent a lot of time at the sea walking around the aquariums and various exhibits. Owen was just enthralled with the rays and fish. We ended up with a new stuffed friend "mr ray".

Here's Owen talking with Crush at the turtle talk. However they do this, it's pretty far out dudes!!
Molly assuming her traditional relaxing pose. Foot up... smile and Minnie.
Riding the ferry boat back to the hotel with Grandpa was always a treatAnd here we all are with Minnie and Mickey.

On the last day, we stopped by to see the princesses and I think Owen fell in love with Belle.

We really love Disney world and I've lost count now how many times we have visited. Knowing our way around and how to make best use of reservations and timing around the parks certainly makes it a lot of fun too. Allison puts a lot of work into preparation and I'm sure we'll be headed back when Molly is ready to remember it!

catchup

2010-03-20T12:44:00.001-07:00

I've been really bad about updating this Blog for the past few months.... conflicted about using facebook vs this, but I think I'm going to default back to this blog because anyone can view it.

So we left off in summer 2009, so following will be some catchup posts, then I'll get back into the habit of posting on a more regular basis.

Butterflies

2009-10-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

When Owen was visiting with Mom & Dad back in September, he and Mom discovered some Monarch butterfly worms which Owen brought home and lovingly watched over. This was the first time he had seen metamorphosis in action... it was funny just hearing him try to pronounce it. :)

Nearing the time they would emerge, we kept a close eye on them as the cocoon's became clear and he could start to see the wing patterns. Right on time, the butterflies emerged. He was so excited to see them and help them get ready to fly!

Discovering the first one...

Owen reached in and the butterfly crawled right onto his hand.

He sat for several minutes watching the new creature dry out it's wings and get ready to fly.

Shortly after we took this picture, the butterfly took off and flew across the lawn. I thought he might be sad, but he was actually happy to see it fly away.

I think it was 2 days later that the second one emerged.... It was later in the evening, so here's the boy in his pajamas, enjoying the process. After awhile, he let the butterfly crawl onto one of the shrubs to get ready to fly.

Praying Mantis

2009-10-08T19:17:00.005-07:00

Owen and I were playing on the swings a few weeks ago when we discovered a friend had joined us... Owen spent several minutes watching her move and walk around.

New Car!

2009-09-28T17:41:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been 3 months now, but we traded Allison's Volvo on a slightly larger ride with seating for 6 back in July. We had the Volvo for almost 5 years having purchased it just before Owen was born. It was a great car that served us well, with the most comfortable seats... But alas, two little ones, the dog and luggage were getting to be a bit much for her to cart around for weekend trips. Also we thought it would be nice to have seats for at least 6 so friends/family could ride with us when we had the kids.

So we looked at some crossovers, SUV's... all the while dancing around the minivan idea. We drove a Mazda CX-9, and a Toyota Highlander Hybrid, both of which were nice vehicles... The Highlander 3rd row seats are made for midgets and it was just a little too small overall. The Mazda was nice, but the one we looked at just didn't suit our needs. After driving a 2007 Pacifica at a local dealer we were sold on the interior room, usable 3rd row seats, features and finally overall value.... it was significantly less $$ than anything else we looked at it. So here's the new addition...

Food...

2009-09-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

Food from the garden and our local farm market Weaver's Orchard just can't be beat. We froze a lot of fresh white corn this year...

Allison's parents have a freakishly good producing apple tree that makes fantastic sauce. Can you smell it? mmmmmhhhmmm

Batch ready to freeze..

We used all the Roma tomatoes from the garden + some from Weavers for making sauce this year. Allison has a fantastic "un recipe" that is awesome.

Owen is the King of the food mill and loves mushing everything up.

Summer Family Time!

2009-09-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

July 4th weekend ended up being our family get together this year to accommodate work schedules and everyone's crazy life. Being all back together again for a weekend is really a blessing now that we're all spread out over the country.

So as usual.... we ate too much food, talked late into the evening, then cursed ourselves for talking late into the evening when the wee ones were up at the crack of dawn... thank goodness for strong coffee :)

Dad made some corn hole boards and they were a huge hit with the kids and a source of bragging and maybe a little trash talking with the mom's & dad's. Sarah still can't hit the broad side of a barn, but that's another story....

Walks are part of the routine at Grandma & Grandpa's.. Owen the puddle jumper was in true form.

Aunt Sarah with Owen, Riley & Ellie.

The gang in all of our Old Navy glory

Grandpa's fireworks.

Owen's laugh is completely contagious and it doesn't take much...

The proudest Grandparents.

Reading books with Alyssa

Mary & Molly

Grandpa added a sandbox and climbing tubes to the playset this year and they were huge hits!

Nothing beats home-made ice-cream and licking off the stirrer is a little bit of a popular job.

The boys were even tuckered out and enjoyed a good snooze.

What month is it??!

2009-09-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a crazy few months here at the Horvath's.... I can't believe that the summer is gone and we're looking at October. I have several excuses for not posting for a while, but I won't bore you with them.

Anyway... excuse my speed posting to catch up to life in the present.

Pictures

2009-06-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

We've been using Portrait Innovations for pictures for the kids recently and been very happy with the results. Here's a proof of Owen from April, then some from this past weekend. I can't believe how quickly they are growing up...

Mommy: Pretty as a pig driving a tractor

2009-06-15T18:41:00.001-07:00

Owen does a lot of activities at day care, and he brought one home recently that had us rolling. The teachers said that a lot of the kids really don't get into it very much and they end up helping them fill in the blanks. Owen is a different story. They report that he really sits and thinks about his answers and always has a good reason for picking what he does. Enjoy!

Maytown Parade

2009-06-15T18:28:00.001-07:00

Aunt Patsy & Uncle Donny host the family every year for a late picnic after the Maytown parade. It's a great community event and good entertainment for everyone.

Here's Allison, Grandpa & Owen waiting for the start...

Fire Trucks and more fire trucks...

After the picnic, Owen and I went with Aunt Shannon & cousin Madison down to the corner playground to play for a little bit.

Owen loves climbing the rock walls...