We had a lot of fun on Canada Day.We had some friends come over for a bbq. Potato salad, macaroni salad, caeser salad, bbq chicken,baguette with cream cheese and sundried tomato pesto with parmesan cheese on top, and baked potato. Then we sat around a fire in the backyard for awhile. Around 10:30 we loaded up the kids and went 4x4ing just out by our house and sat and watched the fireworks from the city on top of a hill/cliff/mountain, lol!! It was very dark, but so pretty. A couple of other trucks showed up shortly after we arrived. When we got there, one guy was all alone with his quad by a fire. So we cranked up the tunes, sat by a big fire, watched the fireworks, and then headed home around 11:45. Didn't see any bears, thank goodness. We were in their territory. That reminds me of the time I came home from work around 11:20 p.m. and wondered why my security light was on in the back yard. At the same time pulling around the corner, a large black furry flash went past me. What the heck was that? I knew it was a bear, but at the same time, this was no ordinary bear. This was a big ol' bush bear that had to have been around 10 years old. Not the normal little young ones I usually have pass through the yard from time to time. So I turned and looked for him before getting out of the car. Where did he go? Hmmm, perhaps its that massive black mound looking at me from my neighbors yard....yup, that's him. I pulled out my cell phone and phoned Neil inside the house. "Where are you?", he asked. "I'm in the car because a bear is in the yard." So he came out to the living room window and looked around because I couldn't see it anymore. He waved me in, said he didn't see it anywhere neither. I have never run out of my car into the house as fast as that Ever!!!! Next question as I'm running maddly to the door....this door better be unlocked?!!!! Well, I guess it was more of a statement because if the door was locked, I was about to make a new one with my foot!!! I thought I saw this.....

But in reality, it was actually this......
So thats my little horror story for today folks. Blessings to you for the upcoming weekend. Take care.......and watch out for bears!!! Lol!!!

Happy 4th of July to my American neighbors!!! Hope you all have a wonderful day today full of celebrations. I know some of you are going to games, bbq's, picnics, fireworks. Sounds like a lot of fun. Have a wonderful celebration today. Talk to you soon.....

p.s. I love old postcards so I wanted to post some of these. They are just to cute....

What a nice award!!! I was tagged by greeneyes and received the Rockin Girl Blogger award.

This is what she said about me:

A wonderful soft hearted woman , who usually makes me laugh somewhere on her Blog , she is interesting in her poetic passages and her friendly warm soul , she makes me feel right at home ,sweet indeed .

Thank you so much. Now it's my turn to tag some Rockin Girl Bloggers. The first one, of course, without a doubt would be my mom Kate, my sister Alicia, Shona, Sharon, and Kelly.

Karen:http://adventuresfromkateland.blogspot.com/ She is a wonderful woman, with a sense of humor. All her blogs are love, wisdom, advice, memories and just plain real. She is vibrant, loves life and is way to full of energy!!She is my mom. I love her.

Alicia:http://allthingsjack.blogspot.com/ Leish has a terrific sense of humor that reflects on her blogs. She has such a soft heart and a sweet spirit about her. She is family oriented and would do anything for you to help out.

Shona:http://thefunnybone.blogspot.com/ Shona is a wonderful, loving funny woman who is a mother of 4. She loves to laugh, tell jokes, just be herself. Her blog is full of life. Stories about her children and her husband make me laugh, and always say Awww.

Sharonhttp://sharon-pocketsofblue.blogspot.com/ Sharon is very down to earth. She is a mother of 3 and is very busy.She loves her children, husband and it's a pleasure to stop by and read her blog. She is a very caring woman with concerns for all.

Kellyhttp://myutopias.blogspot.com/ Kelly is very real. She is concerned about making a difference. She has a very unique personality, and a sense of style that makes her blogs such an informative read. Her cares, concerns, and love for helping children make her a blessing to me to have her as my new blogger buddy.

Meow, Jeanette, Greeneyes, Doug, Lz, and Michael are all wonderful caring, funny blogger buddies that have brought such joy to me. I enjoy talking to each and every one of you.

All the bloggers in my little world have generous hearts, caring sensitive nature's and have made my day at times when I really needed to be uplifted. I love you all. Thank you for being a part of my life. I know even though I have never personally met some of you, I feel as if I know you very well. Take care and blessings sent from my home to yours for a wonderful relaxing week.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Canada Day is often referred to as "Canada's birthday," particularly in the popular press. However the first day of July does not commemorate a clear-cut date of "independence" or "founding," but instead merely commemorates the begining of the establishment of the Canadian Federation through the 1867 British North America Act. The holiday was formally established by statute in 1879, and was originally called Dominion Day, making reference to the term "dominion," which was first used to describe a political union within the British Empire for Canada, at a time when the British government was hesitant to adopt the name proposed by the Fathers Of Confederation: Kingdom of Canada.The British Parliament still retained several political controls over Canada after 1867, and the country still lacked many of its modern provinces. July 1, 1867 represented the establishment of Canada as a kingdom in its own right, the begining of a new phase of Canadian self-soverignity and democracy, and was the begining of the slow march towards full independence from Britain, attained with the proclamation of the Constitution Act by Elizabeth II,Queen of Canada in 1982.

Have a great holiday everyone. Take care..........

Congratulations to Joe and Shona on the birth of their baby boy!!! Noah Joseph made his debut appearance tuesday, June 19th at 7:23 a.m. at Mater Mother Hospital in Brisbane, Qld.He was 8lbs 3oz, 52 cm long, (20.5 inches). What a beautiful baby. Shona was lucky and labored for only 3 1/2 hours..?..( I know..I know!).... 3 pushes and Noah emerged to greet the world. Mom and baby are doing well.Congratulations Joe and Shona, Ashley, Tasha, and Jonah on the newest little member of your family!!!!!

Its 3 am they're all asleep and no one's here to see

As we rock slowly back and forth my Baby Boy and Me.

His little head is feather light tucked up against my chin

I hold his tiny hand in mine and stroke his baby skin.

The house about us creaks and groans the clock hands creep around

He snuggles closer to me still and makes his baby sounds.

I love these quiet hours so much and cherish every one

store memories up inside my heart for lonely nights to come.

All too soon he'll be grown up his need for Mama gone

but until then I still have timefor kisses and for song.

Time for quiet hours like this with him cuddled in my arms

where I wish he'd always stay protected safe and warm.

And yet I know the day will come when this tiny little hand

will be much bigger than my own he'll grow to be a man.

But until then he's mine to love with no one here to see

as we rock slowly back and forth my baby boy and me.

For Fathers Day we went to the annual Show and Shine. It's a display of old cars, trucks, and motorbikes. The city shuts down the downtown core for about six blocks. All the old vehicles line the street and it takes about 2 hours to walk around and look at everything. There is music, crafts for the kids, venders, lots of exciting things to see and hear. Ashley and I took a few snaps of the cars, so bere with me as I attempt to post as many as I can. I may have to split this post into two. After the Show and Shine we took the kids to the waterpark, and then went over to Curtis and Michelles for a bbq. It was a wonderful day we all had. Enjoy....

The El Camino below belongs to the owner of the car rental place I'm at, and the cherry car below that is my neighbor's....

After the Show and Shine, we went to the water park......
We all had fun. I know the dad's were a little bored of being at the park but, oh well, suck it up buttercup's!!! LOL !! Hope you enjoyed the photo's.I have a few more so I'll post them in a couple days. Take care and have a wonderful weekend.....

DAD

God took the strength of a mountain,

The majesty of a tree,

The warmth of a summer sun,

The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature,

The comforting arm of night,

The wisdom of the ages,

The power of the eagle's flight,

The joy of a morning in spring,

The faith of a mustard seed,

The patience of eternity,

The depth of a family need,

Then God combined these qualities,

When there was nothing more to add,

He knew His masterpiece was complete,

And so, He called it ... Dad

Happy Fathers Day Dad!! And to everyone else ,blessings sent your way for a rich day with your children. Renae

It was Our Anniversary yesterday, We have been married for 16 years!!....holy moly! Last night I stopped in at one of my best friends to drop off a and pick up a few things and her sister and brother in law were there.So I called Neil and said come over for a visit then we'll go home. So he brought the kids . Gord made us a beautiful anniversary dinner! Roasted potato with dill and butter, a spinach salad with creamy dressing, corn on the cob, tomatos and onions done in a sugar and dill sweet wash, cucumber salad with another creamy dressing, all homemade, and done on the bbq! It was sooooo good!!! Then we sat around the fire pit and came home. All our kids were there. It was a wonderful time. That is what I love to do the most. Be surrounded by family and friends instead of going out somewhere to have a quiet dinner. We used to do that but now I would rather be with family and the good friends that God has placed in our life. Have an excellent weekend everyone!!!

While we were on our vacation in Langley, B.C. we took in a little pub called Dublin Crossing. What a beautiful Irish pub. Neil and I took mom and dad there for lunch the next day.

Everything was from Ireland. The furniture, the pictures, the lights, the building!!!! Everything was shipped from Ireland and built in Langley. They had painters from the New York Institute of Art come in and hand painted Everything!! The writing on the walls are all done in Irish Celtic.

There are murals everywhere you look. This one was painted over the entrance.

The upstairs balcony had old iron railing that lined the top almost like an old castle.

This was upstairs. It's called the Royal Room.

Live bands play there. All the music is Irish. I will definately go back again. The food is amazing! You get so much, and it is very reasonably priced. We had a terrific time. I recomend to take in this Pub if anyone is in the area. You will not be disapointed.

There are so many little nooks and corners to go in. I just loved it!!!!
Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I know I love looking at them. Have a wonderful week!!!

I'm back!!! I never really went anywhere, I've been ill for the last week and a half. I tried so hard at work I finally had to take a day off. So now I'm feeling way better. My stomach still is not the same. I caught some stomach virus that really did a number on my system. I haven't slept a whole night through. This is a bad time of year for me anyway's because as you can see the sun doesn't really go down all the way.I'm a light sleeper anyway, so combine that with some mild insomnia, makes for a tired morning. Some mornings I wake up with only about 4 hours sleep in total and I get up like I slept for 12 hours. I took this picture last night at 11:30. We know which way north is!!! I would hate to be up there where the sun is up 24/7. Once all color is gone from the sky it's about 12:30 a.m. for us. Then it starts to rise about 3:30 a.m. . By 4:45 a.m. the sky is bright and the birds are singing. It's quite pretty. So, today I'm off to work and Ashley's home. She is such a good girl, she'll clean the whole house for me so I don't have to when I get off work tonight. I think we'll have Grandma over for a bbq. Grandpa passed away a few weeks ago, so she's kinda lonely. She is Neil's grandma, great-grandma to the kids. Have a wonderful relaxing weekend everyone.

Car update. Good news!!! Turns out I didn't have to get the ignition replaced. One of the car salesmen at work called one of our mechanics and the mechanic suggested getting a new factory GM key cut for the car. He explained that the tumblers may have come a little loose and since I have been operating the car using a spare key cut from a spare key, cut from the original key...whewf, (that was long lol..) maby I should try getting a brand new coded factory key cut and try that. He also went on to say that people have brought their cars in the shop because the key won't turn and 9 times out of 10 the problem was the actual key, not the ignition. So the salesman drove me over to where we bought the car and they cut me 2 brand new keys. First she couldn't find the code because the other salesman that sold us the car 8 years ago forgot to add the key code. So I had to pay extra for her to look that up....kinda like one of those finders fee's I guess. We left the car at my work just in case the new key didn't work then the car would be stranded at the dealership. So we got the keys went back to my work and I very hesitantly took out Neils key....the only one left to run the car. Boy was I nervous. I put the key in the ignition and ta-da!!! The beast came to life. I was so happy, we all did a happy dance. So that saved me couple hundred dollars!!! So, if anyone else has a sticky ignition like I had, try a new key first, if that doesn't work, then take it to the shop. Now I can go anywhere and not worry about being stranded. Especially if I'm way into town, then it would take Neil about 20 minutes to get to where I was and try to get the beast going. So that was last week. This weekend was gorgeous!!! I spent the day sunday redoing my flower bed in the front with some landscaping fabric. The weed's this year are so out of control I was frusterated. Now the flower bed looks so nice. That took me about 4 hours. Today I'm going to steam clean the carpets downstairs, start on the upstairs, then go out and lay that fabric in my garden before I plant it. Neil is going to go and get a truckload of topsoil for Grandma tonight, and then get some for the garden. So after I'm done cleaning the inside, I will go outside and get the garden ready. I love my garden. Tomato's, peas, lettuce, radishes, 'icicle' radishes..very spicy, but so tasty, all my herbs have come up, carrots.... I could go on and on. How was everyone else's weekend? I know my sister spent last week moving into their new place. Congrats once again to Mike on the job. Well done!!! My word! I just noticed how long this was, lol !! Have a wonderful week. It is so sunny here I send much love and sunshine your way!! Take care.

Victoria Long weekend for us is now over, sniff. I didn't get any flower beds or my garden going because we had heavy rain and wind the whole weekend. The evening's were ok, but that left a lot of wet ground to work with.This week is nothing but hot sun right until sunday!!! So I'll be working each night on the plants and the garden. We had some friends come over on Sunday night for a fire at the pit and we did salmon burgers, potato salad, ceaser salad,garlic bread. It was kind of a spontanious thing that turned out a lot of fun!!! I have been having a lot of problems with my car key. Whats the problem???...Well, the tumblers in the ignition have loosened and I can't get my key to catch so I can start my car!!!! Poor Neil had to come down twice to the grocery store and rescue me and try to start it for me. One guy thought I was perhaps in the wrong car!!! No, I said, my key isn't working properly,....moron...lol !!! So it looks like I have to get a new ignition thing...starter...something or other. I get so frusterated because I have to jiggle the key a certain way until it catches and then the car starts. This time, it's taking me up to 20 minutes to try to get it going. That's when I called Neil.Yesterday, he took me home in the truck with my groceries, and then we went back down so he could try to get the key to work. After about 1/2 hour of me trying, and then about 10 more minutes of him trying, the car finally decided to give up the fight and it started. So now I don't shut the car off totally. I turn the key back so it's one click away from taking out the key. Unfortunately, I have to leave the key in the ignition for me to start it now. So all doors are locked, and his key stays in the ignition at all times. This week we will have to get a new ignition key thing...as mentioned above, lol!!! Hope you all have a wonderful week this week. Much love and sunshine sent your way....

Well, today is Monday. I have Monday's off. So it's yardwork for me. I got to relax yesterday for Mothers day....only to have to work twice as hard today, lol !!! How was everyone else's mothers day? I got a beautiful purple rose from my kid's. Neil took me out for lunch with some of our best friends. Then we puttered around the yard. Another couple of best friends came over and we started a fire in the pit, and sat around that for hours. Neighbors popped by, my kids were there, my friends kids came over. It was a beautiful day for family and friends to share. Blessings to all for a fabulous week!!!

p.s. Ancient Pathway is featuring a new flower of the week. It's a .....check it out.

I will finish posting our travel pictures next week. Today I would like to take the time to wish my mom, my grandma's,my sister, all my friends, and wonderful blogger buddies around the world a Happy Wonderful Mothers Day!! Cheers to you all!!!

A mother's love determines how

We love ourselves and others.

There is no sky we'll ever see

Not lit by that first love.

Stripped of love, the universe

Would drive us mad with pain;

But we are born into a world

That greets our cries with joy.

How much I owe you for the kiss

That told me who I was!

The greatest gift--a love of life--

Lay laughing in your eyes.

Because of you my world still has

The soft grace of your smile;

And every wind of fortune bears

The scent of your caress.

After we took the kids to Capilano Suspension Bridge, the next day we went to Science World. Which has been renamed 'Telus World of Science'.We decided to park and take the skytrain from Surrey into Vancouver. As you can see, the kids were thrilled!! LOL !

Once we got there we all had a lot of fun. The exibits and displays were unbelievable! Just a big science experiment everywhere we went.Neil and Ashley got on a machine that had wheels and propellers at the top. If they turned the wheels the same direction, it spun them around. The next machine was a sound vibration tube. It had a heavy drum like cloth on one side, and when you hit it, the vibration travelled through the air and echoed onto a light cloth at the top about 20 feet away. The vibrations made the cloth ripple as the air danced through it. That was really neat.

Bradley and I got onto some merry-go-round thing that spun around, and we had to toss a ball back and forth going in an opposite direction. Enough to make a person dizzy.Then Ashley found one of those metal'pinboards' that makes the shape of your hand, or whatever you want to put on the board.

We took in a movie at the Omnimax theatre watching a screen that was 5 stories, and 30 degree seating. It was quite amazing. The movie and the sound made you feel like you were there. Sometimes I got a little dizzy because the picture was 3D. So if a scene moved to fast in to many different directions, I felt 'floopy'....which is quite normal for me anyways, lol !!Of course when we left I had to get a picture of G.M. Place( General Motors, home of the Vancouver Canucks) and B.C. Place Stadium. The worlds largest air supported domed stadium.

That was a lot of fun that day. We got back on the skytrain and headed back to mom and dad's, only to find we forgot to transfer and went to far. Neil realized this before I did, so we got off, got on another one back to the last station, then waited for the right train to go the right way. Lot's of creepy people around. We made it back safely. Well, thats all for tonight. I'll post the pictures of the Irish pub in a few days. That was a beautiful little place to go to.Take care, and have an awesome weekend everyone.....