Graduation

Two of our family members reached great milestones yesterday. Malcolm graduated from kindergarten and cousin Carol graduated from high school. The whole family is so proud. Malcolm did really well this year in kindergarten and despite a little bit of a rocky start, the year shaped up to be a really great one. His teacher Mrs. Baird said that he's grown 7cm since the beginning of the year. Roger and Tracey are hoping that he'll have a growth spurt over the summer as well. Carol too did great, it can't be easy moving from another country and be expected to assimilate into a new system. She's really come a long way. We really hope for great things for Carol as she now embarks on a career in the film/tv/digital media industry. Her program at Vancouver Film School will be great.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day folks out there on the interwebs. I think a fun time was had by all celebrating fatherhood, despite the early wakeup by Malcolm at 5:50am... poor Roger. Malcolm was so excited to give him his gift that he woke up super early. It was a cute school-made necklace self titled, sparklie dude. Roger wore it with honour for the morning until its googlie eyes fell off. Following that, the two Dads Roger and Mel + family were treated for breakfast at White Spot. The family also managed to swing by Grandpa Harry's store to wish him a happy Father's Day. Here are a few images from the day. In the afternoon Roger also had a chance to play with the new pressure washer. He washed the backyard paver stones and deck. Not really my cup of tea, but he seemed to enjoy himself.

Happy Birthday Roger

It was a jam packed weekend. Saturday we celebrated Roger's 40th birthday entertaining so many friends and family at the house. It was fun to look around the room and see all the great folks that have remained so close over the years. In fact, most of the friends in the room he's known for at least 10-20 years, topping out with Steven at 35 years and counting! As always, there was a lot of food at the party. Tracey had the hors d'oeuvres catered by the Savory Chef, which were a big hit. From what I understand the Vietnamese mini subs were a fan favourite. Also, courtesy of Roger's Dad they had 25 pounds of Kalbi on hand to share and enjoy as well. A couple of Roger-centric games were played including a round of Family Feud. Andrew edged out Janey in the Roger trivia contest, keeping up with his best-man duties. Roger says when you're young 40 seems like an eternity away, but now that he's reached it, the weight of the situation doesn't seem as bad. Perhaps that's a good thing, Roger still feels young (maybe his body might disagree) and for the most part still looks it. He really does wonder where the next 40 years will take him. To think the kids would be 43 and 46, whoa! By far, the biggest hit of the party was the makeshift photobooth that was put together in the garage. Roger set up two strobes and a white seamless for guests to trigger pictures via remote. I think cousin Joseph and Ty managed to take advantage of the apparatus the best. Here's a slideshow link to the best images photobooth link: All in all the party went off without a hitch, the kids played well together, the adults seem to have a good time, delicious food was had by all, and ultimately Roger was able to celebrate this momentous occasion with so many people that he cares about and loves. Special thanks to Tracey for making the event a huge success.

Hopefully, summer is just around the corner.

It's always a constant concern and topic of discussion, but the weather has sure been quite disappointing the past while. Although, we did have a few days of sunshine most of the days have been downright un-spring like. The school year is winding down and I think it's been a huge success for Malcolm. Despite his bathroom woes to start, it really has been a good experience for him and us. Hopefully with the onset of summer Malcolm will be able to see some of his classmates around town, especially at the local playground. Also, Roger had 5 rolls of film developed at Custom Colour in Vancouver. Can you believe it cost almost $200! This photography thing is definitely not cheap. He really loves it though, the analog look is something that can't really be duplicated in digital. The first few pictures were shot with film, primarily Kodak T-Max 400. The family went down to Spanish Banks this morning to walk out on the tidal flats to explore what happens in low tide. The kids walked forever out to the shoreline and back again. It's cool how far they could get in low tide. Melody and Malcolm enjoyed walking out on the sand looking for creatures and observing all the seashells, crabs and seaweed. Certainly the other dogs were having a great old time. Maybe, I can go there someday.

Victoria Day long weekend.

The family has been dealing with a bit of a bug this past week. Last Thursday, Roger and Tracey kept Malcolm home from school extending his long weekend to extra long proportions. Melody has had some mild symptoms, but luckily nothing serious. Bad news is that Roger now has a sore throat; let's just hope that it all goes away quickly.  Sometimes it feels like at least one member of the family is sick; it would be nice to have longer stretches where the whole family is healthy and happy.

The past few days have been filled with playing outside (Malcolm is especially excited that the water table has made its seasonal reappearance), a trip to the bowling alley, eating out and various visits to supermarkets around town for groceries and such. The family also had a chance to meet up with Chad, Wendy and Aaden on Friday night for dinner and a trip to a neighbourhood playground. Roger got to play golf with his buddies and Tracey snuck out the see the "Hunger Games" movie.  Also, did I mention that I'm famous? I'm not usually one to brag, but I'm one of the New West dogs who was selected to be featured on the city's new electric boxes.  Two paws up for me!

Busy weekend.

Quite a busy weekend for the family. Trips to the park, Malcolm's gymnastics class, time-outs, meltdowns, #2 issues, birthday parties, yardwork etc. The one thing that we're all looking forward to is the onset of some good weather. We had a little taste of it this weekend, but no-one can really say it's been very warm. It's already May and we still find ourselves wearing jackets and complaining about the wet and chilly weather. It seems like any glimpse of sunshine brings a smile to many faces. I think we're all starved for a little good weather. Oh, and we wouldn't want to forget the "Supermoon", here's a shot that Roger took from the backyard last night:


Roger has recently re-discovered his love for conventional film. He's been shooting all sorts of 35mm film the past several months. Now, with the purchase of a new photo scanner, he's digitizing some of his work on a tumblr blog called: http://believeinfilmfilmisnotdead.tumblr.com/ There you'll be able to find lots of film work he's shot of the family, street and miscellaneous subject matter (mostly of the kids though). So far, although the process is super arduous, the results have been pretty good. Here's a small sample:

With his classmate Pemba, at the park.

Baby Sierra, Queen of the Stink Eye!

Melody, Butterfly in flight.

"Brotherly Love"

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival 2012

Sometimes it's difficult to think of what to do on the weekend. Yesterday, Roger and Tracey had the great idea of going to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon. Roger recently saw John Greengo's photos on FB and was really impressed by the colours. So they packed up the car and decided to head south for the day. They weren't disappointed, it's pretty amazing. Yesterday was actually the last day of the festival and lucky for them there were still several tulip fields open. It was a pretty mucky trek through the muddy fields, but worthwhile. The kids were great, they didn't fuss at all considering they were delayed at the border for almost an hour. They're pretty good travellers those two. On the way home, they stopped at Bellis Fair and did a bit of shopping and had a snack. Here are some photos from the festival.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are on and Vancouver is in it again. I guess I'll use the term "in it" loosely right now, considering they're now down 3-0 against the Los Angeles Kings. Obviously, there's still a chance, but it's not looking good for the home team. Tracey and Roger have both been stressed watching the games. It's hard to imagine that the President's Cup winners, the top team in the NHL is having so much trouble beating the 8th place team in the West. We're all holding our breath for the next game to see if we can keep hope alive. I'll be such a disappointment if we get ousted in the first round, especially after last year and this year's performance.

In family news, things are going well. The arrangement we have with Melody's aunt watch her during the week has been going so smoothly we'll be sad to see her leave in the summer. Melody has sure taken to her "고모". So many milestones happening this year, nephew Vincent graduating from University and also Carol graduating from High School!

Here are some pictures Roger took of the kids visiting with Grandpa Harry at the store. It's a free for all for treats when they're there.

 

To kick off the start of spring, the Easter bunny came by and dropped off two new, two wheel bikes for the kids. Malcolm really seemed to like his new mode of transportation. He still needs to get the hang of pedaling, but for the most part thanks to daycare (that's where he learned to ride) he's well on his way. The egg hunt went well and thankfully to the sunny warm weather the family was able to enjoy some time outside. Let's just hope that it's just a small taste for things to come. Here are some pictures from the weekend. Happy Easter everyone!

Spring has sprung in Vancouver

It's been a long winter and to be honest, I think we're not the only ones starving for some sunshine. We've had a lot of rain and chilly temperatures the past few weeks. It's great for the ski hills, but not much else these days. We were glad to get a sunny day today and ventured out to the Museum of Vancouver followed by lunch by Kits Beach. Here are some pictures of the beautiful Sakura blossoms blooming. There's no place more beautiful in the world than Vancouver in the sunshine.




In other news, now that soccer is over Malcolm started his spring activity, tumbling and gymnastics at the Arenex. He seems to like it much better than soccer. He gets to run around and jump on the trampoline every Saturday for an hour or so. The great thing is that there are only two other boys in his class which almost makes it like a private lesson. Here are some from his class this past Saturday.

Happy Blogiversary!

March 23rd marked the anniversary of this blog, I can't believe it's already been six years. The blog was originally started to document some of the daily events that unfold with the family. Along the way, it's become a sort of photographic journal with updates for friends and family to visit at anytime. The formats have changed over the years, but the current incarnation has been in place for a few years now. I'd like to think that some people who come across it find it somewhat interesting to read. If anything the pictures on the blog should be visually appealing. According to Sitemeter, the blog gets 40-70 hits a week, which is interesting.

For the most part, the blog is for Malcolm and Melody. It's written so they can hopefully one day go back and read all the posts that were created about them growing up. Along the way they can see how important it was for their Dad to keep a visual record of events and milestones along the way. They'll appreciate it when they're older, right? Anyway, for those of you who are daily, monthly, yearly or even one-time visitors thank you for stopping by. Here are some pictures of the family taken at Kits Beach this evening. Roger loves taking silhouettes at  sunset.