After two days of driving we're back!

We had a great time in Vancouver spent one night in our own beds and then we were off again! This time we were headed east to Canmore, Alberta. We spent a lovely night in Kamloops at our favorite hotel, Riverside Motel, and we were off the next morning to our final destination. Most people have asked foremostly how was the drive with Liam. I really would have to say...great he slept when he needed to and got bored sometimes like any normal kid would so we had some in car puppetry, mom and Liam dress up, a little karoke. What kid could ask for more?!

Liam with Nebia, the awesome house owner in Vancouver, and her sidekick Cesar

We made good time to Canmore and found ourselves alone in the house. Andy had gone off to Calgary to help with wedding prep and the others had not arrived yet. So we let Liam get used to his new stomping grounds which translates to going up and down the 3 different stairways over and over and over. We drove to town grabbed some groceries, ate some dines, and even watched a movie (A documentary called 'Boys of Baraka' - loved it made me miss teaching quite a bit very moving worth the rental) and called it a night.

The next morning Liam awoke to find his Grandma Lynda, Grandpa Hugh, Uncle Cam, Auntie Carmen and Uncle Andy all in the house. Needless to say he LOVED it especially all the attention given to him. It was a crazy day trying to get that many people ready for a wedding that would be a 40 minute drive away but it was got done and we were even a bit early...a whole 5 minutes! Scott and Jesse's wedding was awesome at Boundary Ranch in Kanaskis Country. Very fitting for this very outdoorsy couple who are actually on their way to the Maldives for a year for work but it does sound more so like pleasure. Congrats you two!!!

Liam giving Auntie Carmen a hand as she opened her birthday present!

The beautiful couple Jesse and Scott!!!

Well I could bore you with a play by play of everyday in Canmore but I won't. Matt and I did get to do some biking which was fantastic because the biking there is absolutely amazing this time of year. For all those Albertans you'll understand when I talk about fall in AB since the scenery is unreal...gold colored leaves, crisp but warm weather and of course the Northern lights! Amazing.
We hiked almost everyday, had dinner with our friend Jackie from Canmore and even got a visit from Simon and Margarita from Calgary. They spent two nights out with us and cooked us a great meal the one night consisting of mussels and prawns. hmmmmmm hmmmm makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Liam, Simon and Margarita after a morning run.

All in all I would say successful vacation. We even got to stay a night in Salmon Arm on the way home where we had to call it a night at 8 pm because Liam wouldn't go to sleep with the light on. Pretty funny trying to pretend to sleep with a little man who kept poking his head out the top of the play pen just checking to see what his mom and dad were doing. Finally he fell asleep since his parents also did too. opps guess we are getting old. haha.

Sharing some laughs with the parents!

Well we're back to the grind of everyday life...c'est la vie time to enjoy evey minute of it!

Love,

Mo, Matt and Liam

A quick hello!

Hey all,

Sorry no photos with this post but we're in Canmore enjoying the beautiful fall Alberta weather. We had a great time at our friends, Scott and Jesse, wedding in the Kananskis and have spent the last few days biking, hiking, and enjoying some well deserved vacation time. I hope everyone is doing well we'll catch up in a few days!

Love,

Mo, Matt and Liam

Could we be considered Vancouverites?

I know we've been in Vancouver for almost a month now and I've posted once. Oops well time flies when you're having fun...or don't have access to daily internet. So anyways...

I thought I'd do a quick little update to what we have been doing in Vancouver all this time.

Well Liam and my daily routine is a little different here...no daily gym trip which totally sucks but that would be my fault since I didn't not check where the closest YMCA was and now three weeks in I just realized that it's a 15 minute drive from our place of residence. C'est la vie! We definitely do a lot more walking which is nice and we live about 4 blocks away from a very cool park that has a huge playground. Liam's favorite these days is the baby swing, slide and eating gravel off the playground. yum yum. We have been able to do many outings especially when the weather was still hot...going to Spanish Banks, walking along the ocean, swimming at Kits Pool...alright I'd admit we live a pretty great life.

Liam getting a push from daddo!

Katherine and Liam chillin' at Kits Pool

Friends and Family - lucky for us we have quite a bit of family out here so that has been great being able to catch up on a more regular basis. I can phone Cam, Carmen and Andy whenever I want and maybe even get the chance to have lunch together. Always a bonus!! It has been especially great to spend time with my cousin Mike, Teresa and their son Matthew. It always makes life a little easier whan you have people that are going through similar things in their lives...code for the boys can play together and I get to have normal adult conversation with Teresa! We have also been fortunate to see a lot of Matt's classmates from U of A since many of them are now doing their residences in Vancouver. So really I don't have anything to complain about I have more than enough people to hang out with or at least catch up with.

Liam and Matthew eating some lunch in Stanley Park

Housing - We are fortunate enough to have the Chilliwack Resident Residence to ourselves for the month...otherwise with another resident in here it could be a little snug. So we get to stay in a 2 bedroom basement suite in a nice part of town and we have unbelievably wonderful landlords!!! The only problem I could say is that we do miss the room we have in our house. However Liam is just fine exploring the suite on his own which now means climbing through shelving and hiding in closets waiting for you to open the door to find a little monster behind it.

Liam on his normal route of the suite...over the couch under the chairs...

Missing Chilliwack? -Of course (Wow I never thought I would openly admit that) after being away from your home it is pretty great to be back even if for only a few days. I even got to enjoy a true Girls Night Out as my friend, Sheila, celebrated her birthday Friday. Great night out and Matt even let me sleep in until 8 :30 Saturday morning...what a great husband eh? Really that was a wise choice on his part because the hang over I was sporting this morning I was not a happy camper. Needless to say we had an AWESOME night!! Yep we all looked like Yummy Mommies!!

Bar star mom and her homeboy Liam (wow look at his fashion sense with the trendy pant legs)!

Well this should keep you all updated for a few weeks...I mean days at least. haha I promise I will write again since our latest new development is...Liam took his first steps today!! But until next time...(don't you love suspense?)

Love,

Mo, Matt and Liam

I'm a year old, Baby!!

Okay I know I have received a lot of flack for not posting earlier but I do have a good explaination. You see the day after Liam's birthday party we left for Vancouver so Matt could start his rotation in Sports Med. We have a great place of residence that even has wireless internet but unfortunately we do not own a laptop so that made things a tad more difficult. However, this weekend a very generous Cam and Carmen lent us theirs so you're in luck.

Happy birthday to me!!! (Carmen C. Thanks for the play tent idea!)

So here's a short summary of the previous week's events...

Thursday, August 24

I woke to realize that my little Liam was a year old today. Wow, he started out as this little 7 lb 7 oz veggie dumpling and now he's this big 25 lb pork dumpling! Who would have thought we would have made it this far since I do remember asking myself at 2 months how I ever was going to make it.

Liam loves Kung Kung, Pau Pau and Caufu!!

Liam woke up to see the many toys my parents and brother brought from Edmonton for him since they flew in the day previous to celebrate his bday with him. Unfortunately it was not fun all day since his brithday also coincided with his 12 month vaccinations. Yep not a great 15 minutes of his life but he persevered and came home to lots of hugs and food. :)

Friday - spent the day at Cultus Lake with the family...awesome weather we could hope that it would continue for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday - Great day with amazing 29 degree weather! Liam loved the fact that there were so many people at our house...he had 50 guests attend. Yep he's one popular guy!! He had both sets of grandparents there since Lynda and Hugh flew in on the Thursday. He partied hard for 2 hours with his friends and family and by 3 pm simply crashed in bed...you know you've had a great party when...

Thanks to all those that attended for those that could not no worries we'll meet up soon.

Enough chit chat here's the photos from the weekend!

Getting squeaky clean for my party!

Liam's first birthday cake (I actually made it myself)

The relatives came all the way from...Vancouver!
Phil, Pam, Teresa, Mike and Miles (flew from Edmonton)

A little BBQ action!

Liam and Kungkung catching some rays.

Liam and Uncle Miles chillaxin' on his new gift from Auntie Carmen and Uncle Cam.

Liam's other cake...a better representation of his personality? haha

Caufu Miles I'm tired!

Have a wonderful long weekend!!! Until next time...

Love,

Mo, Liam and Matt

60 kilometres later we crossed the finish line...

I think the only word to describe The Weekend to End Breast Cancer is AWESOME! I am still reeling with enthusiasm from walking 60 km that I woke up this morning and went to my Monday morning bike spin class! :) I had a great weekend walking with fantastic women - Jen, Sheila, Pam, Virginia, Kari and Paige. Here's a quick recap of our great weekend in Vancouver:

Friday
Recently, Liam has been dealing with some seperation anxiety but wow on Friday it was definitely me dealing with seperation from him. As Grandma Debbie (amazing volunteer from the YMCA) picked him up to go to the gym and take care of him for the rest of the day I actually thought about not going to Vancouver as I could hear him crying in his stroller as it wheeled away. However, once I got my pack together and headed off to my friend, Pam's, house I knew this weekend was for the moms to take a break the sadness began to dissolve. It dissolved even more as we arrived in Vancouver to do some shopping...without any kids to bring into the dressing room or to entertain!! We had a great time shopping on Robson, eating at Moxie's then we headed back to our residences (Ramada Hotel and I stayed at Cam and Carmen's) early to get ready for a long day of walking.

Jenn, Sheila, Pam and I at Camp

Saturday
I got up at 5:30 am jumped in a cab to pick up the other ladies from the hotel so we could be at the Plaza of Nations by 6:00 am. We dropped off our bags, got some food and just relaxed but that's hard when you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. After a short opening ceremony we were on our way. We had a fantastic route through English Bay, Stanley Park, all the way to Killarney Park. Who knew walking 35 km would be so grueling? There was definitely a time during the day when we looked at the route marker and were blown away that we STILL had 17 km to go before camp. However, we sucked it up, had a great lunch, enjoyed the fantastic weather and made it to camp in one piece. Our friend Pam was even able to get all 8 of us signed up for massages!! We enjoyed a fine dinner and were treated to djayed music until 9:00 pm at which point it was time for lights out. Yep that's right 9 pm bedtime and let me tell you I was ready to hit the sack.

Tent City

Sunday
Another early morning waking up at 5:30 when you have 2100 other people all camping it is hard to sleep in. So up we went for some quick brekkie and off walking by 7:15. The second day was ONLY 25 km and let me tell you it seemed so much easier! We made our way through Point Grey, Granville Island and it was pretty cool to know as we approached Cambie Bridge we were on the home stretch to Plaza of Nations. Even better was that as we walked into the Plaza of Nations we walked through a tunnel of people on either side of us cheering and high fiving us. How awesome is that?!!

Jenn, her sister in law Kari, Kari's best friend Paige

The closing ceremonies consisted of all the walkers in blue shirts while the breast cancer survivors walked into the crowd with their pink shirts on...an amazing image to see since there were so many of them and knowing after all they had been through battling breast cancer they were there walking the 60 km with us. A woman spoke about how she battled breast cancer in her teens and now at 35 has dealt with 8 bouts of other types of cancer since and is currently fighting cancer again! Yet she was there walking the 60 km while battling cancer. I have to tell you there was not a dry eye in that stadium. So really the message was that as much as we whined about being too hot, being sore and questioning whether we could walk the 60 km these things were petty in comparison to the battle these men and women who have battled cancer and are currently battling cancer have to go through. Makes you really appreciate the health that you have.

Closing ceremonies as the breast cancer survivors walk in.

So once again my life has changed, my eyes have opened even wider...just the way I like it.

So here's a cheers to all the people that supported me through this walk!!! It was truly AWESOME!! Now how about next year...

Love,

Mo, Matt and Liam

Womens' only weekend coming up!!

The lily that finally bloomed in our garden!

This past weekend I think Liam and I spent more than 72 hours together...alone. So I am looking forward to this weekend away. Now it is not because I do not love my child I do with every bit of my heart but sometimes a little alone time rejuvenates the spirit.

So this weekend 4 women, from the YMCA, and I are going to be participating in The Weekend To End Breast Cancer in Vancouver. Now for a split second I know you thought that I was going to Vancouver for a total party weekend but then the reality set in I am walking 60 km over two days...hmm not sounding so much like a party weekend.

Let's see on Monday I probably won't be able to walk very well and unfortunately it won't be from being completely drunk on the weekend and dancing so much my legs hurt on Monday. haha

No in all seriousness this walk is awesome and the money is going to such an amazing cause! So wish us luck and for all those that donated thank you so much as this is the weekend I am walking for you!!

Have a great week and weekend everyone!

Love,

Mo, Matt, and Liam

Just a different angle. I can't help it! I'm just happy our garden worked!

Some of the Black eyed Susans...maybe I do have a green finger...I mean thumb!

Thank Goodness it's August Looooongggg Weekend!

I can't believe in a blink of an eye August long weekend was upon us. In past years I would steadily start feeling the butterflies forming in my stomach in anticipation of the up coming school year but this year nada. Not because I have fully decided not to go back to work (mom I know you're still wondering what's happening with that) but simply the weather was wonderful, Matt had a whole long weekend off and well we happen to live in a very cool place (other than the stinky manure fields).

Anyways Liam and I started off our Saturday with an afternoon of fun spent with Sheila and Gavin. We walked down to the school park and played on the swings, ate some ritz crackers, and then played on the slide. However, due to the hot weather we thought better yet let's head home and jump into the kiddie pool and relax with some fruit popsicles. No kid can deny such pleasures!

Gavin and Liam chillelaxin' in the pool eagerly awaiting the popsicles.

Sunday was our big day since Paul made a surprise visit out to the 'Wack to go on a hike with us and another resident couple, Paul and Jonie, to Elk View. The hike according to the guide book was to be a 4 hour round trip. So in the afternoon after lunch we all headed out to the trail head which was located in the beautiful area of Ryder Lake. We hiked up hill for a long time I know my feet were sore by the end I can't imagine what the boys felt like as they all took turns carrying Liam. The view was spectacular as you'll see in the following photos. We actually made it to Elk View and kept going to the top known as Mt. Thurston. Awesome view as you could see Mt. Sleese, Cultus Lake, Mt. Baker...yep great day altogether Liam even fell asleep on Paul's back on the way down! A great hike to do if you're planning to visit!!

Monique, Matt, Liam, Jonie, Paul G, Paul M on the top of Mt. Thurston

The fam resting and enjoying the view

Thanks for the ride Paul!

Paul and Liam spending some quality time together!

Sunday night we chowed down on some fantastic Chinese food and just relaxed. Liam was wiped as was everyone else so sitting in front of the air conditioner was just what we needed. Paul headed home the next day and we had a nice Monday just catching up from the past weeks and getting ready for another wild one coming up.

We hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Love,

Liam, Mo and Matt

Those crazy Calgarians strike again!

So the phone call on Wednesday night sounded something like this, "So we're thinking of flying to Abbotsford this weekend to visit you guys. But we might or might not depending on seat sales so don't go telling Liam we're coming if we really aren't." --> very typical Simon conversation (haha) but lucky for us he came through and bought some tickets for himself and his girlfriend, Margarita...finally we would see if this whole 'girlfriend' thing was for real.

There they were waiting for us at the airport on Friday morning all ready to enjoy the smoking hot valley weather I had been raving about only to be greeted by a cool breeze and overcast overcast and more overcast. Despite the not so cooperative weather we had a splendid day together getting some fresh fruit from the farms and taking Liam to the park to play on the swings but more so to watch the soccer playoff between Simon and Margarita (Australia vs Columbia)! Good times!

Ola Margarita and Simon!

Saturday we decided to had to the big city for the day. The drive to Vancouver was quite quick for a weekend and we even were able to park downtown for $5 for the day!!! Wow when do you get parking prices like that anymore! We enjoyed the favorites of shopping on Robson, eating at an awesome Korean restaurant, taking the ferry over to Granville Island --> it was great for Margarita to enjoy those things since the last time she was in Vancouver was at the airport. In the early evening we met Cam and Carmen over on Commercial to eat some very delicious Indonesian food. As those two headed off to the Lantern Festival we got back on the road back to our beloved home in the 'Wack.

On Sunday Simon and Margarita headed back to the prairies...I can only assume they got home okay after arriving at the airport with let's see 20 minutes before their flight left. I don't know if you can tell yet but Simon is a fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy!! That's what makes him awesome!! We had a great time getting to know Margarita, she's an amazing woman who doesn't mind kick boxing with Simon in our living room! Hope you had fun visiting us you two!!

I am so smart...S - M

R-T!! What a little monster!

The next few posts I am sure will be filled with tons of excitement as we have some fun filled weekends planned...hmm Scott's stag, The Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk, Liam's birthday...it's endless but that's what summer's all about.

That's right boys and girls this little man is turning one at the end of the month!

Lots of Love,

Mo, Matt and Liam

Eat, Sleep, Swim our new summer routine

With the beautiful weather we've have had to change up our daytime routine a little. No more going to run errands in crowded grocery stores or getting sleepy in majorly air conditioned malls this is the time to enjoy the great outdoors.

So with the help of our neighbours we have incorporated swimming into our daily activities. We are lucky to have neighbours like Andy and Traci and their great kids who are willing to share their pool with us. So here's the swimming floaty that Traci bought for Liam to float in since he is a very hard little guy to simply hold in the water. He is always on the go and ready to kick those legs. Guess he's a born swimmer...I imagine being in a water environment for 9 months must really get those Olympic swimming skills going. :) Maybe we have a future Olympian on our hands?!

I must admit all fantastic temperatures we've been having really make going outdoors a lot more enjoyable. So I was able to go on our Tuesday night group ride while Domestic Dad Matt stayed home with Liam for some serious dad/son bonding time. The ride started out well and I thought "Hey it's 29 degrees today why not wear a sleeveless jersey?"...well I"ll tell you why not because all the trails we went through are now overgrown due to the heat and of course a major plant in these parts is the famous Blackberry plant. For those that don't know much about Blackberry plants they are thorny and when you brush by them they like to stab you with their nasty painful thorns. Needless to say without sleeves my shoulders look like a backscratch gone very wrong. I"ll put a picture on the next post. However, despite the bloody shoulders it was a great ride with great company and of course fantabulous weather!

On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon I received a phone call from our friends, Shandalin
and Tammy, with a great idea. Well, since it is so hot out there why don't we head out to Cultus Lake for a few hours of sun and swimming. How could we resist? Liam swam his little heart out which led to his rock solid afternoon snooze! Yeah see once again swimming and its benefits...

Auntie Shandalin another blueberry sil vous plait!

Auntie Tammy showering Liam with attention. Another cheerio chop chop!!

Ladies, ladies there's enough of me to go around!

We hope everyone is having a great summer!

Love,

Matt, Mo and Liam

Oh how we wish it was Chilli in the Wack!

Okay I am not going to complain about the weather here but wow this is what I call a heatwave. Today it hit 36 again...normally I would be fine if we were let's say in Maui where the ocean breeze would be bringing in a nice tropical scent and you're glistening more than sweating. However, we are dealing with 36 degrees of humid air that I will admit smells like manure at times depending on which road we travel on.

On a more positive outlook this is SUMMER!! Wow I haven't enjoyed this much sunshine and heat in a long time apparently it goes like this into August and then the beginning of September.

So this post is clearly dedicated to what we did this week to beat the hot hot heat of the 'Wack!

MONDAY - Karen, Samuel (he's the little dude under the blanket), Liam and I headed out to the park for an afternoon of swings, fruit smoothies, crawling, chatting and simply relaxing. It was cool to see Liam enjoying the playground (although in this picture he looks a little blah he was having a good time on the swing) and to think in a few months he will be cruising around these parks. Watch out world trouble is on his way!

TUESDAY - In the afternoon (L-R) Andrea, Tammy, Liam, Shandalin, Karen, Samuel and I headed out for a little hike up to Cascade Falls! What a cool spot too bad we did not know there were swimmable pools above the falls otherwise we would have been beating the hot heat in one them. There is always next time...

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY: Liam decided to beat the heat by simply running away from it I mean climbing away from it. Yep he's learned to go up and down stairs...descending not always so great he sometimes forgets to go down feet first therefore leading to some baby carnage lying at the bottom of the stairs. Don't worry he always bounces back for more!

FRIDAY: Yep Liam typically lounges around the house like this now a days. He loves his ice water...we've tried the juice and no go he rather go for the cup of cold agua a la ice cubes. What's he watching you ask? Hmm maybe some true crime or ultimate fighting...kidding just a little Tour de France before dins.

SATURDAY: So we...no better put I broke down this morning and went to Sears and bought an air conditioner. After last nights sleep downstairs I figured something needed to be done as I do actually enjoy full use of our house so I caved and bought this little machine. Not exactly aesthetically pleasing but whatever I am not sweating like I just ran a marathon sitting upstairs. Thanks to our neighbours, Andy and Traci, for picking up the little air monster and installing it. Here's a pic of Liam enjoying his air being blown in the freezing cold air firing out this machine.

Well I hope this makes more people want to visit...hmmm coool air conditioned room, famous Chilliwack corn, fresh berries from the farms, 35 degree plus temps...need I go on?

Have a great one!

Love,

Matt, Mo and Liam

The little man is growing up!

I know the last few post have had a tad of a sombre feel to them so I thought for today's post I would try to put some sunshine into your day so here's a little recap of the past few weeks:

We have had a great time hanging out with Liam's buddy, Gavin along with his parents Har and Sheila. They had the boys up for a little pool party on Canada Day. It was pretty funny to watch Gavin and Liam eat popsicles since Gavin politely sat and let Sheila feed him his popsicle. Of course Liam on the other hand grabbed the stick out of Sheila's hand and decided to put the whole thing in his mouth. Yep he's a big eater!

The boys chillin' in the pool eating their popsicles.

Little Liam has been busy growing tons the last few weeks. He has really started to enjoy crawling...on his KNEES (who knew he was just being lazy dragging his belly all over the floor! haha) and pulling himself up everywhere including the bathtub.

Can you tell he loves bathtime?!

Sunday morning Matt, Steve and I headed out to ride Bear Mountain in Mission. The cross country trail starts off with a nice climb and then into even sweeter downhill. Technical, fast and it really gave me an idea of westcoast riding...lots of rock and slippery roots.

Mo, Steve and Matt on Bear Mountain

Mo riding some fun downhill section

Matt practising his faux smiling (oh he's going to kill me for putting this photo in)

Just a little insight into the fun we are having here in the valley. Apparently this Thursday the temperature calls for 41 degree heat...insane is that even possible outside of Las Vegas??

Later,

Monique, Matt and Liam