A Royal Visit

 A couple of weeks ago the royals were in town! Prince William and Princess Kate visited Vancouver and a friend and I decided to brave the crowds and attempt to get a peek at the royal couple. Anna was very excited to see "a real life Princess" (her words!)...though I did explain to her that the princess would not be in a big ball gown and crown! So with our best tiaras on we hopped on the sea bus to downtown Vancouver and got a peek at the royals! And by peek I mean it really was a peek.....crowds and crowds of people....!

Back to School!

It's the first week of school - back to routines, after school activities, and packing lunches!

One Busy Summer

And with the rain this week we have the end of summer. The kids are back in school next week but before we go back to school here are some of our summer highlights...from camping to summer camps to a trip to Scotland...it was one busy and fun summer!

We started summer with a camping with friends at Golden Ears Provincial Park...where it rained and rained and rained. But it didn't rain out the fun we had!

 Our next adventure was a weekend trip with more friends to Whistler where we canoed the river of golden dreams and the girls learned how to fish (but no fish were caught!).

 Then we were off to Scotland to visit family and celebrate Alastair's birthday!

 Sunny beach days in Scotland!

Then it was time to head home and when we got to Edinburgh airport we realized we left our passports in the car. So we got a flight the next day out of Glasgow. And then that flight was cancelled....so we had some good quality tourist fun at the airports!

The final weeks of summer brought sunshine so it was off to the beach!

And it wouldn't be the summer of 2016 without watching the Olympics...every time swimming was on Matilda would yell, "Go Michael Phelps!"

More fun not pictured - our lemonade stand, splashing in the sprinklers, dancing at the Shipyards, going to the movies, splash pad adventures at the park....

Geared for Fun

 We celebrated the start of summer with a new bike for Anna. Her last bike was getting too small and with all the hills here we thought it would be good for her to try a bike with hand brakes and gears. After a quick bike tune up and lesson from Alastair Anna hit the road! First we practice on the streets....next stop - the mountain trails!

Anna meets Mo!

Anna has always loved books and has a love for reading. If you ask her who her favourite author is she will tell you it is Mo Willems. Mo Willems is the amazing author of the pigeon books and the elephant and piggie books. And last night we went to a book signing to meet him! We were very lucky to get tickets (it sold out in a day) and Vancouver is his only Canadian stop. It was an unbelievable experience. Mo Willems read his last book in the elephant and piggie series and read his yet to be published next book! And then he signed all our books! Wow! 

And to give you an idea of how much Anna loves Mo Willems we had the opportunity to go with Alastair to Jasper National Park this week. I asked Anna what she would rather do - go on a road trip adventure and go camping or go meet Mo Willems. Without hesitation or giving any thought she answered definitively, "I want to meet Mo Willems".

 After the book signing we joined some friends at Jericho Beach for a pizza picnic. Meeting Mo and then playing on the beach....as Anna said on the drive home - It was the best day ever!