And last but certainly not least, I downloaded some recent photos of baby Jaime, who was 4 months old on July 14 and is about 17 pounds...he is a BIG boy!! He is a sweetie. He laughs and chatters all the time now. Of course we don't exactly know what he is saying except when he is hungry (which seems to be most of the time...) When he is hungry he lets out blood curdling high pitched screams...real attention getter's!!

OK..onto something other than the dreaded deck talk. I also downloaded a couple of other photos. One is of Dakotah's "new to them" van. Jaime's car seat would not fit into their car as it still needs to be rear facing. There was just no way it would go in there and he is too big for the infant car seat now. Nicci's Grandma loaned them the money for the van and it is working out really well as there is an unbelievable amount of stuff that needs to go where the kids go...diapers bags, strollers, car seats, and a variety of other things they "need" while out.

Well, as you might be able to see, we are progressing. These pictures were taken on Thursday when we brought a new little carpenter in to help out. The plywood is going down on the top of the deck. It is all being screwed in and Dakotah is really screwing it down. She wanted to help and she learns fast. She is also really strong, she puts those screws in with the drill a lot quicker than I do...I think we should hire her but I am sure the child labor folks wouldn't approve!! LOL There are two more pieces of plywood that need to be cut and then it is all down I think. The stairs are being moved so there are temporary ones now up. Hubby is going to put up some kind of temporary railings for the time being as this thing is high up and Molly the fearless keeps going to the edge to look over. We finally had to put her leash on so she didn't jump off after a squirrel or something else that moves....she thinks she is a hunter, she does not buy into the lap dog theory...

I still haven't figured out how to put in the photos properly so I type, insert and publish and then start over to get them in here! The top photo shows the foundation and how far down we actually had to dig to get it where it needs to be. I painted all that black tar over it to weatherproof it as it will be back filled when we are done. The area where the glass sliding door is and the windows is my laundry room. When phase one is complete, that section is going to be torn down and rebuilt. I hear from the boss my greenhouse window and sliding door are not going back in there....sigh...however, on the good side, I will have more cupboards to cram more of my "stuff" into....

The deck is progressing to a stage where it is now looking like a deck. Who knew there were so many steps involved to get to this point. Hubby took a couple of days off of his job this week as we were pretty much rained out last weekend and we got a lot done on the deck. I took some pictures earlier this week.

Note my pretty palm tree and flowers..I wanted to get something pretty in the picture as the house and lumber doesn't look too great at the moment!!This shows how the framing is coming along and was earlier this week. As you can probably see, this is one large deck!

Well, here we are at Monday again. We had hoped to get some of the deck done on the weekend but it seemed like every time we walked outside, it rained. Actually, I heard on the news this is the rainiest July in 16 years and we have now broke the record for the most consecutive days of rain in July ever...what a crumby record to have broke... in any case, back to the deck...on Saturday we persevered and stayed out in the rain laying joists. I mean really, it is July...no one gets pneumonia in July...right?? So we slipped and slid all over the place but got a little bit done. While I wasn't holding wood up I wandered over to my poor flooded and drowned garden and pulled weeds that I swear were coming up faster than I could pull them out. Sunday we went to our favorite (tongue in cheek here) shopping location. I mean what is not to love about Sunbury Cedar and Home Depot?? I was only along for the ride and to watch the lumber while hubby was in Home Depot buying paint for my "side job". He was worried some crack head would steal it from the truck if he left it unattended. As we were in Surrey, that was probably a good guess. So I sat in the truck and and reminded myself how dumb I was not to have taken my book with me. Well, we got home and went out to work on the deck and of course...it started to pour... We decided two days in a row was inviting a cold to come and visit so gave it up after putting up 3 ...yes 3...pieces of wood. I spent the rest of the day painting in the carport under cover. Today I finished up the rest of the painting. the sun actually came out...briefly...just long enough for me to have set up 6 pieces of 12/4's up and to get one side of each painted. I was waiting for that side to dry and was busy gathering up cans and bottles for yet another of my side jobs...recycling the bottles at the bottle depot....(doesn't pay well but better than nothing) when all of a sudden I felt water on me...yep, you guessed it...it was raining again and this time I had all this wood set up and now it was wet with fresh paint...jeepers...I ran and grabbed a couple of tarps and covered it all up. About 10 minutes later it stopped. I am really ready to go out and do the "rain, rain, go away" dance....(and what a sight that will be, huh?) I bbq'd for dinner and while I was out there trying to keep the flames from devouring hubby's chicken, I started to pick off the dead flowers on my hanging baskets. The poor things don't have much left to them now that I have pulled all the wet, mushy, yucky messes that used to be my flowers off....sure hope the sun shines tomorrow...the weatherman has promised sun...but you know, I have given up on him, he lies....

Seeings as I haven't yet figured out how to move pictures around on these posts, I did multiple posts. Hopefully it worked, I haven't looked at the end result yet!

Oh yes....one more footnote...Karen you BIG tattletale!!! LOL You went and told Loretta how much I over packed!! Loretta has packing down to a fine art. I will never get to that level of packing. I like having my "stuff" with me even if it is too much!! I am hopeless...sigh...I guess that is why I collect "things"...like dolls...

And last but not least, in case you haven't noticed, here is my most favorite doll of all.

Some of my favorite photos and what would a road trip be without a dolly shot! American Girl Emily (mini) came along and posed for a picture in the garden.

Other miscellaneous photos I took along the way. there was a classic car rally with some very neat vintage cars this weekend.

This is our "little cabin in the woods". It was cabin 11.

Below is the view of the hotel as we left.

On Saturday night Dakotah started saying she didn't want to leave the next day. she was having such a good time but all good things must come to an end so on Sunday we packed up, said goodbye to the mosquito's who had enjoyed dining on me all weekend, bid farewell to the horse fly who took a chunk out of Papa, and went for a last dip in the pool before getting in the truck to return home.

Max and Molly enjoyed their trip although Max being the neurotic animal he is, wanted to spend a lot of his time in the truck. He would stand at the door of the truck and cry until we let him in and then he would lay down and go right to sleep. He has been to this place several times before so I am not sure why he wasn't comfortable this time. what a goof!!

Saturday night we went to the restaurant in the hotel where they featured a prime rib buffet. The food was excellent with lots of shell fish and salmon (which hubby loves) various salads and a dessert bar. The food was plentiful and the view was superb. It was by far the best meal we had there. Dakotah made it through dinner...just barely....she did manage to wake up in time to go to the pool later that evening. the outdoor pool is open until 10 for children, 11 for adults and the indoor pools are open until 1am for adults.

Every day at 4 there is a tea served. On nice days it is out by the pool. On inclement days it is in the main lobby. They serve Red Rose tea (their slogan used to be "Only In Canada" but I don't know if that is still true today) and they also serve an assortment of fancy cookies and the best banana bread around and lemon/poppy seed bread and sometimes cranberry or blueberry bread. It is a nice afternoon tradition and Dakotah and I went each day. she would have 2 chocolate/chocolate chip cookies and I had the banana bread.

On Saturday the weather was fairly good but there were very high winds blowing. We went to the beach anyways and Dakotah had a great time playing in the sand and later playing on the playground equipment. There are lots of things to do for kids around the area.

Dakotah found a new friend the first day. Her name is Rachel and she is 6 years old. She and her family are staying at the resort for three weeks prior to their move to Spain, where according to Rachel they are moving into a mansion where her bedroom has it's own balcony and they also have a pool and a sand box which seem to be important selling points to Rachel. They will be living there for 3 years and have rented out their house here. The girls had a lot of fun together. Friday night we drove into the town of Aggasiz for dinner. The choices were Subway and A & W. This is not a very large town! Dakotah fell asleep on the way so we just grabbed take out and took it back to the cabin.

Home again!

Well, the weekend went way to fast! The weather was a bit odd. It was supposed to be very hot and we were worried about the lack of air conditioning at our little house in the woods...well that turned out not to be a problem! Thursday when we arrived it was gorgeous. they didn't make us wait until 4 to check in as a cabin was available at the time we arrived. We unpacked (yes...all the excess stuff found a place...haha) and then went to the pool. Dakotah loved the pools. We ate at a local coffee shop that we enjoyed last year but the prices have gone up sky high there. They have no kids menu or pricing and the food was just OK and the price was very high. Friday we woke up to rain...sigh...it wasn't supposed to rain at all this weekend. Dakotah and I made the most of it and walked up the road to the shops. she picked out a couple of t-shirts she just had to have. We looked for one for Jaime but apparently baby clothes aren't a hot item so there wasn't much to find for him. we found a bib. When we arrived back at the hotel, the sun was finally shining so we went back to the pool after a stop at the spray pool.

One More Sleep!!!

Well, after all this deck work, housework and everything it is one more sleep till we head out for our weekend off. Unfortunately our weather has not been good this year...we go from extreme to extreme....2 weeks ago we were wearing jackets and drowning in rain and now we are dying in a heat wave. All the temperature records were broken today. It hasn't even been near this temperature on this date in July since 1958 and today was hotter than then in many areas. Our house feels like a blast furnace and unfortunately, where we are heading is even hotter and there is no air conditioning. That has never been a problem in the past but could be a problem this time especially as we are taking Dakotah with us. We have asked the younger son to come and water for us while we are gone. I sure hope he does as I would hate to lose all my flowers at this point. I will flood everything before we head out tomorrow and ask the older son to at least water the hanging baskets before he leaves for the weekend on Friday. He is heading south into Washington State to go crabbing with some friends. They do this every year. Oh well...I need the rest and the mini vacation so will just leave everything as wet as I can and pray they survive. I took my Mom for her groceries yesterday and packed all the heavy stuff up to her condo for her so she should be OK and not need much through the weekend. she has an electric scooter she buzzes around on and can get to the mall and the air conditioning quite easily from her place. She plans to spend the afternoon there tomorrow and have her dinner at Arby's and stick around until the temps drop a bit.

The photos I added are from two years ago when we were there...last year...(can you believe this???) I forgot the camera card in the computer and brought the camera and battery charger etc. We drove to all the nearby towns looking for a replacement card and none were to be found so no pictures from last year!!!

The first photo is of the cabin we stayed in that year (there are two hotel towers as well but we like the cabin and the dogs are allowed and can lay on the grass outside when it is hot). the second picture is of the lake. It is a huge lake. And there is a nice beach to build sand castles. The third photos is on the hotel grounds and the fourth photo is one of the many pools they have there that are filled with natural mineral water from the springs. Usually it is very warm water...I am hoping they have the temperature a little lower this time to allow for the weather conditions...but the hot tub is going to feel good on these sore and aching bones come night fall!!

Linda