Happy YanksGiving ... Squamish Style

Just learned the term:  YanksGiving, and I have to admit I really like it.  We used the holiday this year to travel up to British Columbia.  There Ian has a new job, Ian, Liz, Anna, & Benjamin also have a new home .... oh yeah and they've multiplied - we got to meet Elsie, it was absolutely love at first site.  As usual I haven't had any time to edit these, but here are some photos from the trip:


Thank you Liz, Ian, Anna, Benjamin, and Elsie for letting us invade your space and showing us an amazingly wonderful time and place.

This was our 8th annual pumpkin cutting party ... and it was a blast!  There was a time when I had the time to edit these images down into something a little more polished .... this is not that time.  Enjoy:



Thanks for those of you who made it, and if you couldn't - we hope to get you on the next trip around the sun.

Interestingly factoid (to me anyway):   this was the 6th different location for this fiesta - Anacaona, Marina Vallarta, el Centro, Skylark, Piper Park, and now the cabin. The spot was a hit and we hope to be back there again!

halloween throwbacks:  

• 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 (undocumented somehow?), First Mexican Fiesta, Ella's First Pumpkin (2008), Ollie's First Pumpkin (carving) (2007), 2006 - otro (O-town's first 'ween)

so there is nothing quite like going a full six months without posting anything and then posting twice or actually kind of three times in a week ... but as we head to Canada for our annual tour I knew if i didn't get the birthday videos done - there would be no birthday videos.  Ollie and Ella spend many a weekend morning watching their old videos and I just don't want to give that up ... not yet.

So it was Karli's that was the big one this year (if you missed it go here), but the rest of us celebrated another year around the sun as well:

Ollie turned eight, he continues to be a voracious reader who loves Lego, swimming, biking, and Pokemon.  We took some of his amigos to see the Lego Movie when it opened.  Of course, we aren't really the type to shy away from a reason to celebrate - and the family hit the bowling alley on the sixteenth and our man's celebration(s) lasted throughout our trip to Mexico.

Ella somehow is already six.  Having her birthday over SpringBreak meant a family trip to SixFlags which has entered a new chapter with our kids able to ride the BigTime rides.  She like many other Kinder students can sing every word to Frozen and did so as she hosted her very own sleepover!

Ok, I'd start out apologizing for being so far behind, but even that is getting old.

I am hoping to get some birthday videos edited down in these first days of summer.  The second (but first edited) was a big one for Karli, one that took us to Mexico to reconnect with amigos from here, there, and everywhere.

To say it was special would be an understatement.  With great thanks to wonderful friends and especially hosts at Davanna Yoga, at Litibu, and culminating in an incredible night at Real del Mar (catered by arguably the best street tacos in Vallarta).  It was a night that was incredibly fun, and a wonderful way to celebrate the most amazing person ever.

all this fun was had over reading week in February of 2014, we all love & miss Mexico very much and are very thankful for the wonderful time we had in such an amazing place.

Happy Birthday Karli