vedder trail day

 last saturday was a scheduled trail building day on vedder mtn.  our goal was to complete a climbing trail that my dad helped us start about a year and a half ago.  on that day, my dad, myself and almost 50 other people ascended on vedder with shovels and picks and assorted instruments to open up a meter wide trail along a flagged route.  50 people working hard and leapfrogging over each other clearing brush and digging up ferns was very satisfying.  half the trail was built in one day.

over a year later all the bridges are built, all the bureaurocratic hoops have been jumped through and ty joined us to finish the final 100m of trail to the road.

i didn't expect to stay long, but ty surprised me by actively shovelling mud for over an hour.  the hard work was made more fun by his constant remarks, "look how much i'm shovelling daddy!"  "wow, shovelling muck sure is hard work!" and the familiar "my arms are tired".

 when ty was done shovelling he investigated the donated drainage pipes, the guys shovelling gravel and the myriad creepies and crawlies in the immediate vicinity.  he also provided regular updates as to how close the guys wheelbarrowing gravel were progressing towards us.

 ty was quite proud of his pipe and was not shy about instructing the gravel guys in how to embed it properly.  they took his advice quite seriously.  ;-)

 what was once a mud pit is now a well drained crossing.

 what was once a treacherous root ridden danger zone is now a dry elevated trail!

 ty was also thrilled to have me roast a hotdog for him.  he also had his first experience with orange pop.  both were a hit.

photo credit for the above photo and the first photo to b j gordon

 thanks ty (and of course FVMBA) for all your work.  i will think of you every time i climb vedder!

And this is the rest of the summer . . .

Yes, it is currently October. October!! Where did that come from??!! And I have yet to document the rest of summer . . .

Marc's parents came out for two weeks at the end of August on their inaugural trip as new retirees.
We went to Bear Creek for a couple of nights and for the most part had beautiful weather.

This child has started smiling.  He is so smily and sparkly!  I love it!

Making a fire on the beach.  Zeke got lots of practise helping Papa husk corn, camping and on the deck.  

Zekey went to town one morning with Daddy and Papa and posed with this statue at Harrison.  

Our favourite spot

I love this picture of Marc and the boys.  Sadly Levi was sleeping and we tried to recreate it later with him but the water was not quite the same.

Mr. Nutbar

We did lots of projects while Marc's parents were here.  One of them was staining our new picnic table.

Levi had another bath . . .  (And yes I consider bathing Levi a project.  Another one to check off.) ;)

Ty helped Marc space out our tiles for underneath our deck.

Ty had fun baking muffins with Nana.  

Canning peaches.  Nana did most of the work.  I did some helping, some learning and some baby feeding.

Reading the manual on Grandma Rose's Canner.  

Laundry . . . A project for another day. That's my motto! (Until Marc dumps all of it on the bed) ;)

Taken from our yard.  Marc visiting with our neighbour Zoltan.

The spider in Zoltan's yard with the sun shining through them.  Crazy.

Ty went with Nana and Papa to visit their friends Norm and Jo.  He built this tower with their lego while they were visiting.  

We've been spending lots of time at Bear Creek this summer. Our friends Chad and Ang were camping for a few days and we joined them and Melissa for the afternoon.  The kids had so much fun playing together on this old stump.  It was also fun to watch all the older kids cross the creek with the help of Maddi and Adriel.

Visiting with James

Blowing bubbles with Nana on the deck:

Visiting with our neighbour Petra after dinner.  

Our cute bebe!

Meeting Ethan, Dave and Andrea's new addition:

The week before Nana and Papa came out, Brad, Raquel and Maria came out for a few days.  We took the kids to this small amusement park at Cultus Lake.  It was cheap, not long lines, no entry fee and kid sized rides.  What more could you ask for?

Enjoying some My Little Pony to give the adults a break.

Dancing at Party in the Park.

The last days of summer.  Enjoying our finished!! deck.

Hiking at the River

Marc and Brad got up at 5 and did a quick summit of Elk and were back for pancakes at 9.

Summer foods.  I already miss them . . .

And to get a start on next summer, Marc and the boys planted some blueberry and raspberry trees out front.  The raspberries are already producing!!