Day at the Beach

On Sunday we went to "Waldo Beach" which was beautiful. It had the best sand and was relatively quiet compared to the provincial beach(Surveyors Lake) we went to last time. I have never been one to sit around on a beach and just "chill" but this was a rare day as I was out on the water in a beach/float chair for over 3 hours and just "was". It was a nice change.-Nicole and Kaeden waiting to go out on the boat-Baby Jordan-Kaeden and Scott-

-Kaeden shooting his water gun-down the long path to Waldo beach-Pete Chillin-

-Scott and Kaeden in a waterfight-Kaeden's feet in the sand-Doug and Baby Jordan-

The Feigs Settlement - Take Two

We were very fortunate to be asked out to the Feigs "Settlement" by Nicole, Pete and Joel and Tom, Ceile, Hailey and Simon for the August Long Weekend. Shelby was babysitting for Starr and went to Oxbow/Alameda for the weekend so it was Scott, Myself, Kaeden and Diti who headed out on Saturday afternoon.

The only "issue" was the wasp infestation, anyone who knows me realizes the problem this posed! Hence my new nickname, "tent" girl! Nicole knew if she mentioned them to me I would be a no show (and she was very correct) as I am absolutely unequivocally terrified of bees, wasps or really anything yellow and black with a stinger. Therefore I spent a fair amount of time flailing about (yes I know it is better to stand still but for some reason my fight or flight sensor doesn't) or sitting in the tent. It actually worked out well as there was a fire ban, the usual circle around the fire pit was instead in front of our tent so I could sit in there and visit and be bee/wasp free!!
~ "tent" girl drinking my "camping long island ice tea"which packed a huge punch - it is 1.5 ounces of orange vodka, 1.5 ounces of peach schnapps, ice, small (tiny,teeny) splash of iced tea and coke ~ needless to say this was all I needed for a huge fit of giggles all night!
Kaeden was very excited to go quading! Pete and his dad took him out a couple of times.

Diti now has a boyfriend...Tom and Ceile's Bernese Mountain Dog - Jasper. the two of them made a cute couple and it was really funny as they snuck out behind the outhouse for a little rendezvous and then whined and barked when we tied them up separately!

thanks again to the all of the"feigs" for everything - it was another great weekend!

My Firebugs!

What would Canada Day be without fireworks! and thanks to Scott and Pete - our resident firebugs we had a great display! I was a little concerned with 1) that Scott would get hurt and 2) that Pete was wielding a Blow torch! but all was well and I don't think I have ever seen Scott move so fast as they would light 4-5 at a time and then run away before they blew! They did a great job though and it was a fabulous display!

The Burning Outhouse was one Scott picked out and we both thought the name was hilarious!

Scott with his box of fireworks! The insurance professional in me was cringing at this point of the evening - Liability and Fire Hazards were written all over this!
this is a picture of the aftermath - this is only a small portion of them as they were spread out all over this area - there was over 40 fireworks and the display lasted about 5-10 minutes!

The best part - no injuries or property damage! A true success!

This is what I am talking about...

mountains...sunset...water...beautiful skies...no need to say more!

Kaeden's First Trip to the Beach

Not only was it Kaeden's first trip camping but also first time to a beach! We spent the whole day on Sunday and boy was it hot! but the water was cold!

Kaeden is quite the "safety boy" with his life jacket AND water wings! Hailey and Shelby were awesome with him and took him out in the floating chair and also taught him to jump off the boat dock! Apparently this picture of my brother in law Pete is the standard - they will float for hours out there!

July Long Weekend

We spent the July Long weekend camping at the Feigs "settlement/colony" in Baynes Lake BC. Pete's brother and sister-in-law own the 5 acres and the hope is to sub-divide it and Nicole and Pete will purchase an area and build a cabin and Tom and Ceile will also build a cabin. It is a beautiful area that has many trees and backs onto a pond - there are many landscape pictures to follow that will give you and idea of how beautiful it is.

This was the first camping trip we have taken in years and it was Kaeden's first ever camping adventure - we tented it and he thought that was pretty cool! We looked like such newbies with our straight from the store sleeping bags and crystal clean Coleman stove!

A huge thank you to Pete, Nicole, Joel, Ceile and Hailey for their kindness and hospitality - we had an awesome time and will definitely be returning!


There were so many butterflies...apparently I am a city girl because I was just in awe of all the wildlife. Kaeden was also too cute because I said what a pretty butterfly and he responds "mom...it is a monarch butterfly" I ask "how do you know that?" and he replies with impatience "learnt it from the little Einstein's-tah "(Kaeden's version of a teenager's "duh") . The little Einsteins is a Disney show that teaches children about art and music - it is a wonderful show and apparently it is working!). Kaeden spent alot of time with his net trying to catch a few but lucky for the butterflies he was unsuccessful!

We also took Diti camping and as you probably suspect - she was not at all stressed and she pretty much slept all weekend under a tree! She did try a little escape Sunday morning from the tent at 7am but lucky for us Kaeden was awake and he went out and caught her - a little scary since we were all sleeping and my fear of tenting came true with Kaeden just leaving but all ended well because Kaeden caught Diti just out on the road by stepping on her leash and then called for Scott who brought them both back and we zipped up the tent better - other than that excitement this picture is pretty much her whole weekend.

My absolute favourite part of camping is the cooking and I have one of the "best" camp cooks - Scott made us hashbrowns (which Ceile and I were obsessed with) and bacon each morning and Nicole made some of the best camping pancakes i have ever had! Our "newbie" camping stove now looks a bit more rustic!

A Sneak Peek

Koocanusa River, British Columbia

July 1, 2007