Thursday, June 23, 2011

warm showers


this is jon, me and juan.

for those of you that may not know this, jon and i are members of an online organization called warmshowers...we host traveling cyclists on their way through smithers.
so far we have had two fellows stay with us. juan was our latest...he is from spain and stayed with us for two nights. he has been on the road for 16 months, starting in Ushuaia, Argentina, on his way north to Prudhoe bay, Alaska.
too bad i was working both nights and jon was sick--but we still got to have a few good conversations with him. good guy.
check out his travels: www.panamerikana.org


and this picture...well, i never thought i'd see the day, but see the evil thespian in the corner? she was playing with lucy's tail.

Monday, June 20, 2011

welcome Juliana Elisa!



Juliana Elisa
born June 18th @ 8:53 am, 6 lbs 15 oz

wish we could have been there...can't wait to meet her in September!
love you all lots,
-auntie mandy & uncle jon
xoxo


Sunday, June 19, 2011

our first out of town visitors


toby, mary, me, jon in Rupert

when we met for dinner in Victoria in May our old friend Toby and his wife Mary decided they would come for a visit. we were ecstatic to have our first out of town visitors (and of course pushed to get the flooring down so they wouldn't have to walk on plywood in their room--alas, we only got half finished)...but no matter, we didn't spend too much time hanging out in our rooms.

after their long drive up north with their superstar (but senior) pooch Molly in tow, we hit the road again for a night in Prince Rupert (4 hrs west of here on the coast)...Jon and I were excited to head out that way for a bit, and Toby, Mary and Molly were troopers, that's for sure! what better way to relax from all that driving than to go on another mini road trip? haha.


the drive out to Rupert took us forever, mostly because we stopped to dilly dally a lot (here's me playing on a river boat in Hazelton)


we decided to stop in old Hazelton for a coffee--and good thing too because we randomly met the artist Roy Henry Vickers in the street--unfortunately we didn't think to snap a pic with him, but hopefully we can photoshop him onto the above pic


Jon and a Hazelton totem


stretching our car legs on the rapids hike on the way in to Rupert




found: tree swing

Mary has actually been to Rupert before, but only from water--she does marine research and often will go out on the water on research missions for a few weeks at a time--Rupert is usually one of their stops to get off the ship and stretch their sea legs with a night at the pub.
Toby had never been and I think was looking forward to seeing the pay phone from which Mary calls him when she's away on her missions.
and Jon and I? well, we were excited to get out of town for a couple of days, and so look forward to eating candied salmon and salmon jerky from Dolly's! (sooooo darn delicious--we stocked up!)


a miraculously sunny two days in Rupert made for a miraculous sunset
(which we recently realized we don't get to see too much in the mountains)


we enjoyed the sunset on the waterfront patio at the casino (after losing our money on the nickel and penny slots)






another sunny day in Rupert...Jon under a cowbrella in Cow Bay


saw this pic in Cow Bay and had to snap it for Jord and Gillian (our next out of town visitors--well, meeting them halfway between here and Calgary in July...can't wait!)


stopped for a visit at the old North Pacific Cannery in Port Edward
(Jon and I had been before so I didn't take too many pics but of course had to take pics of the old tins of food in the old store building)


mini-kegger...old school


mini provincial park on hwy 16 (once a campground, now just a quick stop on the highway)







had a beautiful day just walking around town here the day before they had to head back...it was nice to relax and be a tourist in my own town for a day!

but of course we took them up our favourite Smithers scramble, Malkow Lookout
(where we got mauled by black flies and skeeters--Tobes had the bear spray in case we encountered the black bear that was hangin out in the parking lot the previous day--but none of us thought about the bug dope)

Mary, Tobes, Me, Jon with Molly

super fun visit!
-a.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

more renos and a new member of the family

more home renos...


jon taking the stucco off the ceilings
all the plastic reminded me of E.T. and jon reminded me of a ghostbuster....it was a good night for '80s movie nostalgia


ripping carpet out


jon in and out of the workshop cutting boards with his new jig saw


"look mom! i'm flooring!"


bamboo flooring through the hallway


...and spare bedroom


a break from flooring...my first rodeo experience. (and probably my last).
the kispiox valley rodeo: "the biggest little rodeo in the west"


first garden harvest...tons of rhubarb left by the schiblis
have already frozen a bunch, made a batch of delicious rhubarb butter and a rhubarb crisp when toby and mary were up visiting from nanaimo (pics from that fun visit to come!)


and meet Lucy...she's a 5 year old Shepherd/Collie cross we just adopted from the shelter.
we were going to trial her for a week and see how it went with you-know-who (the evil thespian) but she is such a good dog that she doesn't even pay attention to thespa...and so thespa has learned to accept her already...by which i mean sneaking around Lucy when she's asleep and sniffing her butt.