Brown

The four of us are playing I Spy.

Mom: I spy with my little eye... something that is brown.

Zachary: Me

laughter

Zachary: What? I'm brown :D

Grey Cup hits Vancouver

For the hard work Scott put in to lighting up BC Place this year, his company gave him tickets to the CFL Awards. Lucky for us he even got an extra pair of tickets to the Awards ceremony and the After Party, so we brought my friend and co-worker Gina and her husband Ed. The boys has a blast pointing out familiar faces. The first we saw Darren Dutchyshen, was standing behind us in line at the bar.

Scott, Dutchy, and Ed

Scott and Ed with Angus Reid of the BC Lions

TSN panel live.

The Grey Cup.

Lest we forget

For Remembrance Day, since we were down town Vancouver, we thought it would be nice to bring the boys to Victoria to take in the Ceremony at the Parliament building. It was a rainy day, and we flew over with Harbour Air in a Twin Otter.

Walking from Harbour Air heading to the Parliament building.

Zachary's feelings about standing around in the rain waiting for the parade.

Jonas' feelings

Looking back at the crowd of umbrellas.

It was cold and wet, but an experience the boys may not forget. Due to high winds that picked up in the afternoon, most flights back to the main land were cancelled. So we made what we could out of the situation and checked into a nice hotel up the street from the terminal. Victoria is a beautiful city, and we went for a little stroll. We had dinner in the hotel room and watched the Canucks play. This morning we enjoyed the complimentary breakfast from our hotel and walked back down to the terminal. Just as we boarded the aircraft Scott realized he didn't have the keys to our jeep. We've made calls to as many places we could, and fortunately had our other vehicle down town (the original reason for us to leave the valley). The Harbour Air shuttle brought us up to the shop where we were able to get our car and headed home. Once Nick gets off work this afternoon, Scott will head back down town with the spare keys to get the jeep and bring it home.

Always an adventure.

Sunset Soccer

Now that the clocks have turned back, we say good bye to the sun set soccer practices. Zachary has soccer practice Tuesday nights (indoors), games on Saturday mornings (outdoors...brrrrr), and an additional academy soccer practice on Sunday at 5pm. We used to watch the sun go down during this practice on Sunday, but now he plays under the lights.

This is a quick snap of a little team huddle as the sun goes down.

The Price of Children

Just had to share...

I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice.
The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn' t so bad if you break it down.
It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich". Actually, it is just the opposite.
What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh ,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and wish on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the :
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.
You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So . . one day they will like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!
Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren

(author unknown)