A round of waterfalls anyone?

We did a day trip to Kimberly today... sort of. It was mostly to tour around the woods in search of every lake and waterfall we could possibly walk (not hike) to. What we call a walk in the woods, Atalie would likely call a hike - I can only imagine the size some of the roots and rocks for a 2 year old! :) Marysville Falls, a 5 minute jont from the town centre! There were kids swimming in these small pools along the creek, just above the falls. Beautiful! boardwalk, heading back to town. Meachen Falls, 40 minute drive from town. These were so big it was definately intimidating standing above them (without guard rails Dad, as you've pointed out in the past of our BC parks and their view points... who makes, or fails to make, these rules anyway?! Hooligans.) Our goofy, wet, dirty, half-clothed (kev:)) family portrait of the year. I may just send this one out in the Christmas cards... it's about as honest as they get! :) :) :) Aiden immediately takes advantage of his freedom on the sandy shore... Atalie does what she does best, "Look! I throw rocks in the water!!" Kevin does what he instinctively does best in any fridgidly cold river. Gets in. Atalie and Mom hang out (ok, pose) so Mom isn't completely left out of the blog(!) Aiden notices the rest of us in the water... and the rest is soggy history! Aiden knows he's the cutest boy on the planet, yes he does!! This picture is actually very typical: Aiden is happy-go-lucky (his Daddy's son) and Atalie just can't smile b/c her hands are "deetr" (dirty) and is waiting for somebody to clean them before she can move on with the current activities (her Mommy's daughter). HA!!!! Kev takes the kids away from the edge of the falls while Mom takes pics. Snack time. I think this is a first for us - pies for a hiking snack. Where's Aiden??? Doesn't look like he worked up an appetite does he? The wet clothes are no more. White Boar Lake, another 15 minutes up an insanely bumpy road from our last stop. Kev is super stoked to be here:) SUCH a beautiful mountain! It's even a million times bigger than it looks. That's it. I must throw in a little unintentional advertising however: If you've never been to Kimberly and are even remotely close to the area, GO! It's a beautiful little Bavarian town!! You can walk to the most beautiful waterfalls, swim in the most beautiful streams and eat the most beautiful (so I hear) schnitzels! hehe... the last one just kinda happened but seriously, GO.

Pool's full.

I was strolling through the Bargain Store today (which I haven't done in ages and was quite enjoying, being the bargain nut that I am) and came upon the tiniest little pool you've ever seen. I figure that for $3.50 Atalie and Aiden could have a pretty good time cooling off in the summer heat... sure enough, they were quite pleased. It was a small adventure with the three of us (ok, four including Koda) crammed into the 34" pool this afternoon. Aiden taste tests the water, repeatedly... Atalie taste tests the water and declares (with quite a bit of flare, i might add), "I DO NOT LIKE IT!". Chillin by the pool. Atalie uses her bubbles frequently each day and had run out a week or more ago. I finally got her some more today. However, this time my bargain buy ended up being more of a wasted buy... bubbles just aren't bubbles when they pop BEFORE you blow them. They seemed a little watery. * note the "pop-eye" expression which enhances the bubble blowing technique * Koda had fun too:)

A new blog

I've decided to expand. Reading that first sentence over is hilarious to me. But I have. I've decided that if I want to go further with my photography I've got to push myself a little. I feel so far behind in some aspects and so far ahead that I can barely catch up in other aspects... to sum this up in a nutshell I'm taking a step forward and seeing where it takes me. Doing something is better than doing nothing. The new blog address, if you're interested, is this: www.kendrasphotography.blogspot.com

Pretty in Pink

Atalie wore her pretty pink summer dress (thank you Nana!) for the first time today. It was so dang cute I had to take some pictures... we were almost late for church and Mom didn't realize until she was in the truck that she'd forgotten to eat breakfast! Above, playing with her jewellery box:)

Backyard action.

The backyard has finally been made usable. A fence went up sometime in May and grass was seeded shortly after (along with the quackgrass and whatnot). We also attempted to plant some trees. The Ponderosa Pine has been extremely successful and already grown about 6"; the two purple maples have also survived, even gained a few more leaves (which were scarce to begin with); our attempts at a Larch, Weeping Larch and other maple were extremely unsuccessful due to our "Diggingest Dog" Koda. We've near killed this pup (ok not really, but she has been a real pain in the butt!!!). Aiden and Atalie explore the "out back" and still manage to dodge the sprinker... which wouldn't be the case if we hadn't told Atalie to "stay out of the water please" :) Hangin out on the front deck. What are little brothers for, if not this???? Atalie She loooooves her new sandbox that Daddy built last week!! Aiden Koda (ie: "The Diggingest Dog")

Expect PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it's been a long long long loooooooooooooooooooong wait (I'd say about 5+ years) and today I finally got a great little digital SLR: The Pentax K200D. Infact I'd say this camera far excedes my expectations and I can't WAIT to try it ...yes, I'm still reading the 3/4" thick manual. Call me crazy but it kills me cracking open a much anticipated purchase to discover there's so much you don't know that you feel slightly overwhelmed (it's like saving up money for a car and when you get the keys to drive it off the lot you find out it's all in pieces for you to self-assemble). I realize videos are cheesy but if you are like me and a little "out of the loop" when it comes to digital technology, you must see it (try to watch it all if you start it, there's some cool stuff in it). I was pretty amazed to see what a camera is capable of these days! I have to thank Kevin for his willingness to sell his DH bike (and mine) to purchase this - and of course God for answering my prayers alas:) It's hard to explain how exciting and significant this is for me but you'll just have to take my word for it. Woohoo!!