2017: The year we didn't blog.

Happy Birthday Grandma C!

Grandmas B & C missed the blog this past year. And I missed having the time and space to reflect, look at pictures and write a bit. 2018 is here and my resolution is to try and figure out how to not be so busy. Short of quitting a job or giving away the dog, I don't think it is going to happen. But like children, puppies do grow up....so it will get better. Well, it has to.

2017 - let's hit the highlights:

We ended 2016 and started 2017 in Calgary with family and old friends. It was a short but fantastic trip. And we met our newest family member - adorable Alec, who by now is walking and almost 1.

We went skiing at Mt. Washington a couple of times and the kids really mastered pizza-french fries and enjoyed themselves so much that we decided to become a skiing family. 

In April Kai turned 10, Grandma and Poppa Mike came to visit and we embarked on our craziest and wildest adventure yet...becoming a family with a dog. Kai's long awaited birthday wish came true and we traveled to Vancouver and brought an extra living being home with us. 

This event really eclipsed all others this year in terms of how life changing it has been for our family in both good and "challenging" ways. Smokey is well and truly a big part of our family now and a blog will be written soon to describe the crazy first few months (by Greg). We need a concrete reminder in case we ever begin to weaken against Teia's perpetual requests for another pup. Cause when you look at Smokey's adorable and innocent little puppy face and you're a bit fuzzy on the actual details, you think you just might do it again. 

May was a super busy, super fun month. Or at least I remember it that way but we were pretty sleep deprived with our new puppy baby. We had a long weekend visit from Mike, Aynsley, Alec and Malcolm where more special cousin memories were made. 

Then a week later we went to my new favorite campsite on Galiano Island where I got to show my family yet another one of my favorite BC places. This was an extra special weekend since we camped  with our good friends Dave, Olivia, Sacha and Noah, and Granddad came along. This turned out to be not only a fun, but absolutely essential part of our trip, since handling camping with a 12 week old labrador puppy required 3 adults. Whether it was fighting off the mobs of her fan club, taking her for 5 am walks, pulling seashells out of her mouth, or keeping children away from her lest they lose their fingers, we were busy - as well as all that other camping stuff! But I can't wait to go back. 

We'll just pretend it was all serene like and that we did enjoy this sunset. I think clearly it was taken by someone else. 

We camped again in June. And managed to survive without Granddad. We got to use our new super tent and were close enough to home that we actually went home for a few hours to shower and warm up from the torrential rain. 

This is during camping intermission after we showed and warmed up. Clearly some beings were tired. 

In June another school year ended and we kept up the tradition of going to the vet on the last day of school since Smokey got good and sick. It lasted about 36 hours and then she was better. That is a tradition I'd like to skip for next year. 

We headed off to Hornby Island in July for our 3rd annual trip there. We rented a dog-friendly cottage this time and did all the usual Hornby things with Smokey tagging along - biking, paddling, swimming, hiking, beach combing. We really wore her out and this trip marked a turning point in her relationship with Kai. He began to trust that she might stop biting us all. We also ran into some old friends at the Cardboard Bakery pizza in the orchard night because Hornby is just small like that. We reconnected and Smokey and the kids made some new friends. So many wonderful Hornby memories again, so many pictures to share, but this one kind of sums it up:

Okay, maybe one more......

August was a busy month. We had a visit from Grandma C, we replaced our leaky roof (well the roofing crew did), as well as our hot tub deck (Greg did). I went on my annual mountain biking trip with friends, this year to Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast. That trip went a little bit sideways with one friend ending up in Emergency and with new resolve not to ride her bike off stunts, so the riding was cut a bit short. 

We closed out August and summer with a last minute camping trip to China Beach. The super tent rose again and Smokey proved herself to be emerging as an excellent camping/hiking dog, except when neighboring campers use the outhouse in the night. 

September brought exciting new challenges for Teia. She started at a new school and began her career as a hockey player. 

Kai's school year was off to a rocky start with multiple teacher changes. We've been riding out those challenges ever since. The kids also joined us at a couple of cyclocross races. Oh, and Greg got to do this.....

Wouldn't shooting cobs of corn be one of your year highlights?

October was its usual busy self. Granddad came to visit and helped us efficiency-ize our laundry room by adding a sink, counter and cupboards and stacking the washer and dryer. A major 2017 improvement! It's not quite finished but that should happen sometime in 2018. Granddad did help us to finish a 2015 project while he was here. Hopefully we won't be 2 years behind schedule on this one. He was also around to help Teia celebrate turning 8. She's still a horse nut so this year's party was a trail ride with mom, Kai, and her friend Olivia and then a horse themed party with more friends back at our house. Judging by all the smiles I think she had fun. 

For Hallowe'en Kai returned to being boxed in. This time as a dump truck. Greg performed his usual box miracle, this time in record time (less than 2 days I think?) and Teia was a horse in a borrowed costume. 

In November Smokey got spayed. It was relatively uneventful compared to Snuggles' spay so we were all relieved. We did beg the vet for some sedatives which she reluctantly dispensed, but they really did save us since Smokey felt pretty much back to normal in less than 24 hrs. 

We also got snow! Right after Hallowe'en, extremely strange for Victoria. It was pretty while it lasted but no one was really ready for it....yet. 

And finally December 2017. Feels like just yesterday ;-) To be honest it really was kind of a blur. Christmas arrived before we were ready and plenty of things didn't get done on time. But the tree was put up and Santa showed up even though things like Christmas cards, calendars done on time, Gingerbread houses and home baked cookies just didn't happen this year. What did happen was snow on Christmas Eve, pretty unbelievable again for Victoria, and such a huge treat for our two littles. It melted pretty quickly on Christmas Day but the kids made sure to make the most of it and brought some down to the beach. 

As per previous years, the kids were most excited to see what Santa brought for the animals, in particular Smokey, whose stocking contents were dumped over our sleeping bodies early Christmas morning. We had a lovely day with just our little family, heading out only to take Smokey for a romp on the beach and for an after dinner walk downtown to see the lights, because she hadn't had a chance yet. There were plenty of dump trucks and horsey gifts and mom and dad weren't forgotten either. 

We celebrated a Halifax NYE cuddled up in front of our wonderful new wood fire insert all warm and cozy. And look at these photos. What a way to end the year. Successful bonding of a boy and his birthday present. 

Happy New Year to All and to All a Good Night.