New West Seniors' and Family Festival

Holly's school participated in a local festival today. The event was hosted by Norm Grohmann, who I remember as a local weather forecaster on the news when I was little. The students sang O Canada, and another song chosen by our music teacher, Ms. Stewart.

Terry Fox Run

Today we held the annual Terry Fox Run at school. Here are Mehr and Holly!


Holly collecting her popsicle sticks - the kids get one for each lap they complete.


Jo-Ann (Karl's mom) running with Holly & Katie.

Holly loves her cat

I think it will be nice in the winter having a cat snuggled up on our laps, keeping us warm when it gets cold! Especially when we're watching a movie, as you can tell Holly is doing (the popcorn is a give away!).

Paddling the Fraser

Today, we went for a paddle along the Fraser River. We started not too far from home, and paddled down to Deas Island. Before we started, we dropped off a vehicle at Deas Island and saw a spot we thought we could stop at and pull up the canoe, but when we finally got there, the tide had come in and we had to paddle around into Deas Slough, which took another 40 minutes - so our paddle ended up taking around 3 hours in total!

Holly got to sit in the middle of the canoe on a milk crate. I gave her the camera and she took these shots along the way . . .

First Day of Grade 1!

Today was Holly's first day back at school. Here is her class with their teacher, Ms. Celis.

Everyone from Kindergarten came back this year, and there were 2 new additions (Charlie and Illya).

Top row: Sophie, Hanna, Ioana, Karl, Ms. Celis, Kyle, Mehr, & Lucas.
Sitting: Holly, Aryn, Katie, Illya, Samaya, Sienna, Charlie, Nicholas, & Sammy.

Mount Seymour

We went for a hike up to Mt. Seymour. Holly walked the whole way up AND back! There was only a brief time on the way down when she said she was tired and got a piggy-back ride from Daddy, but she was a trooper! We even saw a little bit of snow along the way.

Cat or Dog?!

Holly & Paul got a carrier for Mowgli, because we're planning on taking her to get her claws trimmed. They picked out one with dog bones on it - but it looks like she either doesn't know the difference, or doesn't care! It might be appropriate, since Paul says she acts like a dog, following him around, and sitting and watching him work on the house!

It took a couple of days, but she is now lying in it sometimes. Hopefully, the trip to PetSmart won't be too traumatic!

Cute Kitty

One of her favourite spots - on Daddy's lap!

Our Day at the PNE

Today, we were dancing at the PNE, so we went early to do some of our favourite PNE things - like go to the Superdogs show, and seeing the Acrobats. Paul was able to come with us this year, so we also decided to take advantage of our free ride passes. My mom and I went to watch a bit of the free Lea Salonga concert - it was crazy! I have never seen so many people at the evening concert (I think every Filipino person in the Lower Mainland was in attendance!).

We convinced Holly to ride the pirate ship with us . . .  any guesses on how it went?
















All smiles before ride starts . . .



And then there was some screaming and crying involved!



This is more her pace - she's either just a little young still, or she takes after me when it comes to the roller coaster-type rides!





And then we danced . . .









My Aunt Gloria and Uncle Ken came to watch, along with my cousin Alison and her little boy, Owen!

A Day at the Zoo

Bel wanted to take Holly on an outing and the Zoo was a suggestion. It was Holly's first time here, and her friend Mehr was hoping for a playdate today, so she came with us. It turned out to be a fun girls' day out with Bel, Holly, Mehr, Elle, me and my mom.