Mama & kidlet trips begin.

I took Jia and Fei out camping on our own.  Surprising how easy it is to drive the motorhome.   Parking was managed but I still have no confidence.  Fei took a funny picture of me driving, couldn't possibly look any more serious ;)  We all had fun but Jia had a super hard time calming down so it was midnight before she slept.  Now it's clear that I owe both Jia and Fei an individual trip.

Eric brought Lili and Luk to the campsite for lunch on Sat.  I thought we'd go for a walk or throw rocks in the lake but the kids all settled down coloring.  Still liking being all cozy in the new little house.  

The big girls had their dance recital later that night.  They were awesome.  Venue change because they couldn't use the middle school stage.  Stupid teachers strike.

The strike isn't bothering Eric, Fei and I.  We're all loving the extra time off.  Lili isn't missing school but she is clearly missing the grading.  Luckily the strike has little impact on our family.  

Then Lili and I went back to camping and did two nights on our own.  Lots of card playing and dice.  So relaxing.  I made her breakfast on our first morning and after breakfast she wanted  to read so we crawled back into bed and I got a nap at 11.  Totally unheard of and so decadent. 

Eric has been doing some great work on the motorhome.   Changing locks and latches.  Painted out the inside in a nice ivory, it was seafoam green.  He's put in new blinds and curtains.  Window cling.  Lots of cleaning.  It feels different.  Nicer for sure.  He still has plans for more fixer upper projects.  Love that he is putting so much into this for me and the kids.  New mattress and dinnette cushions next.

We’re all heading out camping  again tomorrow for five nights.  Taking the trailer.  Thank goodness we have Scott at home to take care of critters, chickens and Eric's garden while we galavant.

We're not ready for tomorrow.   Too much on the go as per usual.  Countdown to the China trip.  Clearing off my desk at work.  I get the Friday, Monday and Tuesday off so a full five days.  We're dragon boating on Sunday!  Luk's first time.  Jia is beyond excited to go paddling again.

Light reading

Now that school is out, Lili is going to get down to some light reading.

First Trip in the Motorhome

First of all, wow, is that ever soooo much easier than the travel trailer.  Zero set up.  Parked and walked into the kitchen and started to make dinner.  Love.

We went to the closest provincial park and there were no open sites.  Eric talked to the ranger and he let us park at the boat launch.  Amazing.  We were right at the river.  The nicest section of the park and right where we used to camp before it was a park.  Pretty nice for our maiden trip.  Bonus, we saw Debbie and the girls as we drove in so we got a visit and Jia and Emily had a great play.  We went to their site, which although not a long walk it made for an exciting walk back in the dark.  Following Eric, sleeping Luk and the lantern.  The stuff that memories are made of.

The motorhome was comfy for all of us except Eric who slept on the couch that has metal support bars that he could feel.  We weren't set up for beds when we got back so we settled Luk into the bathtub!   He slept there all night.  Too cute.

Eric and I got up early on Saturday and worked all day getting housework done, cleaning the inside of the motorhome, sorting camping gear, shopping with a long list and finally moving in.  It was 7 pm before we headed out.   The unit is ready to go now so it can only get easier.

Eric drove us there but I drove us home today.  Easier than I was expecting.   I was much relieved about that.  I'm still scared at the idea of backing up, tight spots and ever needing to slam brakes.  Oh, and the old seat belt is horrific.  Going to need to do something about them for sure.  Think about Robin Williams in RV when he first gets in the big rolling turd and our seat belts are way worse ;)

The Green Car

Gramma and Grampa bought this car two Christmases ago for Jia and Little Guy.  Jia has been a bit afraid of it until now.  Luk...no fear...loves, loves,  loves the car and surprisingly can manage driving it even though he's so tiny.  Where there is a will hey?!  I'm guessing they were playing pirates ;) 

My Lovely Camper

We bought a motorhome!  Such fun!!  It's for me to take short trips with one, some or all of the kids.  It has seven seat belts and sleeps six. Eric doesn't like to head out as often as I do, he's hoping for more time at home.  I'm nervous to drive it.  It's a 24'  1980 Ford/Vanguard C class motorhome.  It's only got 67000 kms on it.  We've been looking for a while and we've seen a lot of fixer uppers!  Ours is all retro and funky but quite well taken care of.  It has orange carpet and upholstery, my favorite color.  When Fei got in tonight she said "oh Mom! It's your colors".  Tomorrow I get to move all my gear in from my old camper.  If it's not raining we're hoping to head out for one night in it.  :)  The license plate is 553 MLC hence it's name My Lovely Camper.  I'll try to fix the photos at work.  Sometimes things are tricky on the phone.  The orange upholstery is covered in white slip covers.  Ay yi yi.   We'd never survive white ;)  Will update pics soon.

Old friend.

We had an old friend come to the island for a visit.  I met Frank when I was 16.  I was a counselor at Operation Trackshoes and he was one of my competitors.   He was great at helping and the next year he came as a counselor too.  We haven't seen him since Lili was a baby.  It was nice to catch up.

Lili and Fei were in camp with their class.  It was pretty quiet at home for a couple days!

Now with the school strike we're pleased to be starting our summer holidays.  Jia has a couple weeks of preschool left still, private school.

Lots of people around us are so affected by the strike.  We're not.  Barely impacts us.   Pleased to have our schedule lightened.

The lazy dayz of summer.

Dealt with a miserable kid, let Lili go on her first bike ride to Gramma and Grampa's by herself, visited Gramma stuck at home with her broken leg, ran errands in town.  Made it home in time to make dinner and get it to the backyard for dinner.  The day has been off all day regarding time and plans but it's a perfectly nice evening in the back yard.  Lili and Fei even went in for their first swim.  75 already.  Eric built a cool water heater.  Picture below.

Found photo

Forgot I took this one on Sunday before the piano recital.  I have no idea where Jia's poses are coming from but we love them.  Cute kids.

Alpacas.

I got to go with Jia on her field trip today to an alpaca farm.  So cute.  They got to meet them, feed them, see and pet a new born.  Then they fed chickens and pet the rooster.  Then they washed, colored, carded and spun the wool.  Fun stuff.  Jia was great, interested in everything and right in there.  Most of my pics are of the back of her head ;) 

Piano Recital

As always, our girls make us proud.  They are such beautiful pianists.  Always a pleasure to listen to them.  I didn't get Lili's introduction.  Opps.  Youtube videos are below their pictures.

Here is Fei...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyd453APSJ8

Here is Lili...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLaKlsFnrHI&feature=youtu.be

Chicken update.

Eggs!  Our girls are laying.  So proud. The older girls aren't laying yet?  We were surprised to find brown eggs first.  We ended up with 11 hens.  Such fun.  Our older girls are supposed to lay tourquise eggs.  We have quite a few people waiting for eggs :)  The white ones in the picture are medium size from the store.