A BIRTHDAY MILESTONE

November 16 marked a half a century since Papa was born. Being Papa, he did not want any fanfare, parties or anything to mark the occasion. He is not big on Birthdays, holidays or other occasions. He didn't even want to go out for dinner so the night before, (which technically is his birthday as he was born on the other side of the international dateline), I invited the kids to come for cake. He didn't know I was doing this and he took it rather well and opened his presents and sat with the kids to blow out the special candle and then retreated back downstairs to finish watching his football game on TV. I couldn't find a cake geared specifically for a 50 year old or even an adult birthday so I settled on the tropical one as Papa was born in the tropics...it is a cupcake cake...I had never bought one before...it is interesting how they made it.

Memories of Yesterday's Long Gone.....

Yesterday my friend Loretta took me on a field trip to downtown Vancouver. I will post more on that outing later but when I drove home from her house later in the day I passed my elementary school and thought to myself I should take a picture but alas it was traffic time and not great weather so I didn't stop. When I got to the next street, however, my memories got the best of me and I turned down and drove to the house I grew up in. It is the second house from the end of a cul de sac and I didn't want to appear like some kind of crazed stalker so I just took the one picture from the car. When we lived in this house, many decades ago, it was brand new. On the right hand side behind the tree branches is another window and that was my bedroom growing up. The tree that is blocking the window was a tiny shoot that became about 8 feet tall and resembled a Christmas tree by the time we moved...Look at it now!! The house looked so much bigger when I was little...funny how that works!

MAGICAL DISNEY SUNDAYS

Heidi over at Fairy footprints in the Sand is offering some very cool gadgets ...like falling snow except being the very computer literate person I am (NOT....LOL) I can't get the snow to fall on this blog...I probably put the code in the wrong place... But I think I did get the very lovely Fall Pumpkin to show up....it is at the bottom of my blog or close to the bottom because it was too wide for the side where I wanted it and of course I don't know how to fix that either so I moved it....

Anyways, here is where you can find her new site http://htmlblogcodes.blogspot.com/

And while you are visiting, maybe stop by her main blog for her Magical Disney Sunday event and a list of the other participants. Click on Tinkerbell in my sidebar and it should take you to Heidi's site and the Disney Magic!

FUN FALL THINGS

Thanksgiving flowers from the kids for me!

Well, Thanksgiving came and went in our little corner of the world. It seems like a long time since we have had turkey and I guess it really has been. The family gathered as well as one of my older sons friends and we all had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.

TEA AT LORETTA'S

October 15, 2009

The chatties are giving thanks too!

Life of Faith doll Laylie and American Girl Kirsten (whom is going to the A/G archives soon!)In the photo above, Chatty and Molly are posing on Loretta's front porch in front of her wonderful display of chrysanthemums...if you look really closely, there is a tub of begonias in full bloom peeking out from behind the front planter! Amazing for these parts in October to have them so healthy and lovely still!

In the lower picture, Isabelle's Chatties in yellow were happy to come to tea as were American Girl Molly and the Chatty Girls!

Loretta's American Girls Molly and Emily were modelling their spiffy twirl skirt outfits Loretta made for them...aren't they just the cutest things?

On Thursday Of this week my friend Loretta (from the House of Houben blogspot) invited her sister Leona, another doll buddy Isabelle and myself to one of her fabulous teas. We haven't had one for quite some time due to our very warm summer and then the ongoing construction nightmare taking place next to the House of Houben (see Loretta's blog for details!) Despite the hammering and drilling going on next door, we all had a great time but I can certainly sympathize and understand why Loretta feels the need to escape her place for awhile each day!! I will attach a few photos from the tea...Loretta does up the best tea parties around...and as you can probably see by the table, you never leave hungry! Happy Pink Saturday for any of the "pinkies" stopping by....I am kind of focused on the lovely fall colors at the moment but will be back to pinkness soon!

MAGICAL DISNEY SUNDAY'S

Heidi over at Fairy Footprints in the Sand has started a new event called "Magical Disney Sunday's" which sounds like a lot of fun for Disneyholics like myself!! As soon as I get a bit of free time I am going to try and participate because as most of you have already guessed, Disney is a particular favorite of mine! If you follow the link which I have also added to my sidebar you can hop on over to Heidi's blog and get her list of participants for her new event which I hope will be a great success!

The Last Weekend of Summer.....

The last weekend of summer and we packed up Dakotah and the three dogs and we headed for Harrison Hot Springs....the way we have ended the summer the last few years. We stay at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort but we stay in the cottages by the water at the back of the property as they are more dog and kid friendly than the actual hotel. This time we were in cottage 8 and it had recently had some much needed reno's done including redoing the ancient bathroom. We were very happy to see they finally put some money into the cottages. They charge an exorbitant amount to stay in them yet year after year they did little to improve them. Now they have started and we a re loving the improvements...except they still have not put dressers into the bedrooms. Years ago they had them but removed them for some strange reason and never got around to replacing them. The cottage has a bedroom and a large living room with a sofa bed so lots of room. The weather while not great was decent most afternoons. There is no air conditioning in the cottages so too hot is not a good thing anyways. Being surrounded by the mountains, they seem to get a lot of wet spells.

The picture of the plaque above the mountain photo tells the story of this mountain. It is quite interesting. If you click on the photo it should enlarge so you can read it.

There is a tiny town just down the walkway from the resort which has all kinds of cute little shops and quite a number of ice cream parlours. There were tons of gorgeous flowers to enjoy while walking there.

I am not sure what these purple ones are called but they sure were pretty!

This is the back entrance to the hotel and their "Copper Room" restaurant which is a fancy type of place where a dress code is in effect and they have a dance band playing and they encourage the patrons to dance.

The little diva likes to pose and sit on the walls here...

An afternoon tradition at this hotel is afternoon tea at 4pm. On nice days it is by the pool and on inclement ones it is in the main lobby. As you can see, the weather wasn't too great so we had tea in the lobby. They serve hot Red Rose brand tea and an assortment of cookies and slices of various breads like banana, chocolate chip, lemon poppy seed etc....and the best part is that it is complimentary for hotel guests...Dakotah and I have been going to this since she was a tiny girl and she sits very ladylike on one of the large couches in the main lobby and sips her tea with far too many sugar cubes in it but we are on holidays so she gets away with it....

This very old copper piano is a focal point in the main lobby. They always have lovely flower arrangements on it and all over the lobby and it is very pretty. I have never been in winter but they have a lot of cosy warm fireplaces and sitting areas that I am sure are really nice when it is cold outside.

This stuffed bear stands guard at the top of the stairs from the lower lobby and he is wearing his red serge just like the local Mounted Police. Usually there is a sign not to feed him but the sign was missing and Dakotah noticed it right away...of course being stuffed I don't think his dietary needs are great!

We saw this interesting display of stacked rocks on the beach. It reminded me a little of the logo for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Harrison Lake

If one were so inclined there are a lot of boat tours of the lake available and they have all kinds of water toys that can be rented at this marina.

This is one end of the hotel as seen from the lake. It is very old now but the interior of the section you can see has all been updated and is quite lovely and plush.

Papa and Dakotah looking at something in the water from the seaplane landing docks...

Dakotah and Papa with the resort in the background

Way further down the beach we spotted these Canada Geese swimming around in the lagoon. Last time we were here they had taken up residence at the back of the hotel near the cottages and they were not pleasant neighbors...but somehow they have managed to get them to somewhere else as not a goose nor their mess was in site behind the cottages on this visit.

Even further down the beach we found a place where they refuel the boats and a lovely beach. the water was a pretty greenish color here.



Dakotah and I perched atop a pile of rocks over looking the water...

Papa showing Dakotah how to skip rocks in the lake. she did finally do it too!

But then they found a piece of wood with a nail in it and a piece of plastic and Papa showed Dakotah what kind of toys he played with growing up in the South Pacific. He comes from the Islands of Tonga and is Polynesian and they didn't have store bought toys growing up and depended on their imaginations to make toys. Papa made Dakotah a lovely boat to sail on the lake.

While they were making their boat, these two little travellers jumped out of my bag for a picture. They are American Girl mini dolls Rebeca and Emily and I often take them when I go away...because as many of you know, I am a doll collector....

While I was taking doll pictures, Papa walked way out to the end of the land jutting out and launched the "boat" so Dakotah could see it would come to shore....

And here it comes in! That splash in the water is a rock skipping and causing a little bit of a wake for the boat!

As the boat got close, Dakotah couldn't quite contain herself and decided to go in and help it arrive quicker!

This is a very impressive castle....but it is not ours! We just stopped to take a photo. Later this month Harrison is the host of the world class Sand Castle Building Competition where competitors from all over the world come and compete to see who can be the most creative and make the most outstanding sand creation.
http://www.harrisand.org/

Well I was going to provide a link for the website but it turns out that for the first time in 19 years they will not be held this year. Last year vandals broke into the structure and destroyed a lot of the creations for the first time ever. It was long after the competition but Harrison would gate the area after the competition and charge a small admission price for people to come and see them from year to year. I am not sure if this incident has anything to do with the cancellation but it is a shame something like this can happen and destroy the fun for everyone!

This lake is a fun place for big and small with lots to do. There is playground equipment scattered in various areas all down the beach. the kids love it! Even the bigs kids like us:)

Our little "monkey" thought these were pretty cool! this is the first year she could actually do them herself...she is growing up!

And then our "company arrived". This is the grass space behind the cottages where dogs and kids alike love to run and play!

The latest in hair decor....sort of....this is a dead firefly....I can't believe she let her Dad put it in her hair...it also came home with us for show and tell at school....

Usually this picture from the cabin window contains our three dogs perched on the back of the sofa bed but somehow this time we have a new window sitter..Jaime! LOL

And as a side note...while our weather was not great on this long last weekend of summer....since we have been home the weather has been glorious....and today we broke temperature records for heat!! LOL

If you would like more information on the Harrison Hot Springs Resort you can find it here

http://www.harrisonresort.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and please leave a comment when you visit as I love to read them and see who has come to visit!

Linda