Spring Break Chillin

This year we voted to go to Victoria for spring break and see my parents. Unfortunately, Blake was unable to get time off, so he stayed home, for the 10 days, and bonded with our dog Cooper. He said that for the first few days, Coop would just sit outside Brooke and Chan's door waiting for them to open it. Poor guy!

We had a fantastic time. It was hard convincing my kids that 45 degrees was going to be cold and they needed to bring gloves and jackets....they were glad they had a smart mom! Despite the rain that fell on and off, every day except 2 days, and the occational flurry, we had a great time and didn't let the weather hold us back.

My brother, Travis, took a three day weekend and flew out to be with us. He has so much energy and was so fun...it was great to see him. He judged our sea shell contest, threw kids around in the wavepool, took us to a movie, and tried to dominate on the Wii. Here are a few highlights of our vacation.
My mom and dad arrived home, from their 2 week cruise, just and hour after we arrived. Dev jumped out and surprised them.
Very intense sea shell judging
of course, dad's cookies, and countless other Canadian treat we ate!
Mom cooked great meals all week...even a TURKEY dinner
Playing hard with Trav.

My parents friends showed us how to catch crabs....kill them (many tears since Chantelle had named them all, and then we ate them...yummy!

Butterfly Gardens

This was the coolest place. We were not allowed to touch the butterflies, but we could let them land on us. The had a hatching place and then just the most beautiful garden area to walk around in. The very large blue butterfly was fast but would swoop in and land on us....he evaded my camera! The kids also loved the flamingos and cool flowers. Devon had one butterfly creep all the way up him...he got kind of worried when it got to his neck.

I can't remember the name of this HUGE moth, but it is in its cacoon for like 9 months and then is alive for only 48hrs she said.

This new butterly just kept crawling up Dev.

The blue butterfly was so quick, it would land on you, scaring you with its speed and size, and then take off

Devon was so patient trying to get this little butterfly to land on him...

Lots of Exploring

We did lots of walking and looking at trees and areas that are foriegn to us Arizonians. We took a picnic lunch one day to a lake and could walk around the whole lake. Sydney, my parents dog, actually went swimming after sticks...crazy dog, it was freezing in the water.






The kids loved climbing on all of the big mossy trees that had fallen over. Melissa and I made the comment that we felt like we were in the Twilight book and that we'd better watch out for vampires...cute ones. Then we read in the local paper that they were filming scenes for New Moon on the island....cool.

This Rocks

I just purchased the new photoshop elements 7 program. Then Michelle and I took 2 classes learning how to organize our photos and digital scrapping purchases, and then how to use the program to make the page. It has been a bit stressful, I have bitten off 4 nails! But, this is the first page that I have finished and then tried to put it on my blog....a miracle, it worked. I think you have to double click on it to actually read the text though.....a bit of a pain.

So, yes I am going to start to be a better blogger. I'm sure I will loose a few more nail in the process, but things are looking more encouraging!