Our visit to the Vancouver Aquarium

Hi everyone,

Well a lot has happened since our last post. Let's see...

Last week, my brother Miles came for a 7 day visit and of course the temperatures hit well into the high 30's, yes we had a day of 39 degrees. We were lucky enough to be able to head out to the lake every afternoon and soak in the cool water of Cultus Lake. I will post some photos when I scam them off Miles' blog. :)

Umm what else I am officially huge as a whale now as I am into third trimester. I am at 30 weeks as we speak and well if things go as they did last time in 8 more weeks will have a new little one at our house. We'll see as I am busily trying to get ready for the new baby, Liam's 2nd birthday coming up, and all around summer craziness.

Here fishy fishy!!

Oh yeah, today Karen, Sam, Liam and I decided to head into Vancouver as the forecast placed the temps in the low 20's so perfect weather to head into the city. Karen and I are trying to hit all the spots of entertainment for the under 3 crowd before they move to Naniamo in Sept. We left early this morning and got to the aquarium in good time only to see massive amounts of people. Don't people work on Mondays but of course it is also summer time. I forgot.

hmmmm jellyfish!

Sam and Liam were very entertained by the beautiful fish, wonderful dolphin show and of course snacking on fresh fruit (who knew kids would love apples, blueberries and peaches so much). On the way home we had a quick stop for lunch then on the road home to the 'Wack. We hoped the two would fall asleep but no luck but now Liam is snoozing away and I get to write this post --> so it all worked out.

Baby Beluga and my apple = priceless

I am glad the temps are back to a summertime 'normal' and I am going to go get some juice and relax for a little while. Have a great day!!!

Mo, Liam and Matt

Up close and personal with Moby Dick.

After hoping and wishing for a dishwasher ever since we moved into our house in Chilliwack it finally happened this past July long weekend. My parents came through with a nice surprise phonecall letting us know that they wanted to buy us a dishwasher after knowing our current financial woes and I'm sure my repeated complaining about the amount of dishes I wash everyday which probably hinders my ability to spend more time with Liam. Probably not that true but hey it worked and we now are living in modern day bliss!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

However, Matt and I first decided simply to remove a few cabinets and install the dishwasher. After talking to our friend, Ryan, who would be helping us with this home reno the reality sank in it probably wouldn't work unless we just torn down the existing cabinets and started anew. So one afternoon Matt and Ryan headed to Abbotsford to do an 'innocent' trip to Home Depot and low and behold Matt came home with all new bottom cabinets for both sides of our kitchen. For those that have been here before they would be aware of the ugly pink countertop and very space inefficient cabinet placed next to the refridgerator. Here are some before photos:

Main counter with 1970's pink countertop along side the flory wall paper that I have innocently ripped off in sections throughout the kitchen

Cabinet the previous owners installed that probably worked for space for two people but the space around the cabinet just made for a headache for us.

So on Saturday the demolition began while Karen, Ryan's wife, Samuel, Liam and I all headed out for the morning.

Matt working out some post-graduation stress!

We were nicely surprised by the progress of these two by the time we arrived home and by Monday the kitchen was transformed. There are some finishing touches like putting on all the cabinets dooors, adding some more electrical outlets, and adding the kickplates but all in all what a wonderful reno. Simply said we have a new kitchen. So see for yourself:

The black box of greatness (diswasher works likes a dream)

What a difference a new countertop makes to a room, most people didn't even know we had tile flooring in this kitchen until they saw it against the grey of the counter.

Our kitchen reno continues as I ripped down all the wallpaper and we have purchsed paint to give this room a true makeover. So until next time...

Matt, Monique and Liam