Back Home

So we've been home for a week now and everything seems back to normal...amazing how it already feels like it was a really long time ago since we were there. We had a great time, I will miss being able to visit with my Irish family. Some of the things I will miss are: going for coffee at Roughans and having bacon baps, the ice cream - so different and so good!, apple tart, scones with jam and cream (we did a lot of eating while we were there!) fish and chips with lots of malt vinegar and salt, wheaten bread (I'm starting to think it was all about the food:), the smell of peat fires, the fresh ocean air, watching the waves crashing over the rocks, driving on the wrong side of the road, the amazingly beautiful scenery of the countryside, my cousins, and I can actually say I enjoyed shopping there because all the stores are different, I especially enjoyed grocery shopping because of all the different stuff they have.
I won't miss the fact that we had to double the price for everything we bought which makes it a little pricy, or the separated taps for hot and cold - honestly I can't believe they haven't phased those out! Also kind of strange are their showers which have machines that heat the water as you use it and only one person in my entire family has a clothes dryer which means everything goes on the line - o.k. when it's not raining!
Just wanted to write a few of these things down so I won't forget - it's amazing how bad my memory is getting! I also have put all my photos on facebook because it is way easier to load them on there and I can get more on, in case you're wondering.

Our trip so far

We finally got organized and made it to the airport on Sunday. We checked our bags and realized we had somehow overpacked and were a little overweight...11kilos @ $10 per kilo...ouch! We'll try to pack lighter on the way back, and we will also be able to disperse our stuff between the family, my dad only has one small bag, so we'll give him all the heavy stuff. I was amazed at what they've done at the vancouver airport since the last time I was there. They must have got lots of money from the improvement fees cause they sure spent a lot of money. It looks really good, there was a river running through the waiting area with a massive fish tank at the end.
The flight was good, and more importantly Oliver was good...thanks to baby einstein videos(thanks to mom sawatsky for lending her portable dvd) they work like a charm. He slept for the last 4 hours of the flight. It actually went quite fast.
I made the mistake of letting him nap when we got back to Sandra and Alec's house because that night I put him to bed at 7pm and I went to bed around 9:45, and then he woke up at 11pm wide awake. I thought he'd be up maybe an hour or two and go back to bed but no...he stayed up to 5:30am despite my best attempts to get him to go back to sleep. So I had about 5 hours of sleep in 2 days. I woke him up again after 3 1/2 hours and kept him up all day. He did amazingly well with only 7 hours sleep in 2 days. The next night he slept all night from 9:30 to 10am.
Dave has rented a car and taken off up north to see what he can see in the next 4 days before we fly to Ireland.
Yesterday Alec took us on a really nice drive through the Scottish countryside. We stopped for a quick hike up one of the hills with the sheep and the view was amazing!
I think I have a weird obsession with the old buildings here. I like all the old doors and chimneys! I don't know if it's because I used to watch Mary Poppins when I was little? There is so many good photo ops here! We've had great weather since we got here, unfortunaly I am cameraless for the next couple days because I made Dave take it so I could see where he went. So today we went to the art gallery in Glasgow and I couldn't take any pictures. Hopefully we will get to go back.
My mom called today and was saying that Julie arrived in London and everything was good. She said Natalie wouldn't get in the car when they got there because the car was "backwards" because the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car...Haha...poor girl in such a strange place! After they explained that all the cars here are like that she got in.
A few more days here and then we fly to Ireland on Saturday. I'm hoping Dave will make if back in time from his adventure!

I Love Spring

So here are some new pictures for you, as you can tell, I'm all about the photos! My favourite time of year is from April to July, I love how green and fresh everything is. Oliver has been exploring more outside, he likes to eat dirt...and rocks. In another month he will be 1 year old!
We have booked our trip to Ireland, finally, I can't believe how complicated that was. The whole family is going, all 10 of us. It's slightly complicated because we are all leaving at different times and landing in different places and meeting in Ireland the first week of August. Julie is flying on her own with the kids to London to stay with a friend for a week, and Jon is joining them later as he has to work till Aug 3rd. Dave and I will be flying to Scotland on July 22nd and staying there for a week until my mom and Jen arrive on Saturday the 28th. We will then fly to Ireland together. My dad is leaving in 3 weeks (June 12th) and staying for 2 months. So Dave and I will be gone for almost a month...yippee!
We have also finally just planted grass in our backyard so hopefully in a week, we will see some green. I will post pictures then. In case you are wondering...we have lived in our house 3 years and the back yard has never been landscaped, but that is pretty much one of the last things on our list!
Other than that, I have one more month of maternity...boohoo, no more maternity pay! I will be going back to work on July 3rd just for tuesdays and every second fridays...we'll see how that goes. My mom will look after Oliver on tuesdays and Dave on the Fridays.
Whew...that's it for now!

So Oliver and I flew out to Calgary to visit his cousins last week. We left sunny Abbotsford and arrived in snowy Calgary. It only lasted a few days and then the sun came out and melted it all. Oliver had lots of fun with all the new toys! I got so many good pictures...it was hard to choose which ones to include.

Tulip Festival

We went to the Mt Vernon Festival today


The colours were amazing!

Easter Weekend

The Easter Bunny stopped by...

Grandpa Speedie brings Ollie treats to share Easter dinner

Easter presents...it was a little bike

Grandma Sawatsky Thursdays

So Grandma Sawatsky wanted to have Oliver all to herself once a week, every thursday afternoon, Mom gets a free afternoon...yippee!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

http://www.myheritage.com

O.k., so I thought I'd give it a try...it's kind of dumb though because the first time I did it, Oprah Winfrey came up! I really don't think there is anything similar about us at all...I'm really white and she's kind of black. Also, Jessie's husband did it and he had women show up on his. I also had Halle Berry show up on this one.

We've been busy!

So it only took us a year to complete but we finally finished our attic which is now Oliver's bedroom. It adds about another 300sqft to our tiny house so it's nice to have.
And you probably remember me complaining last fall about being so busy with the reno's in our rental suite, I'm so glad to say that it is now done! Now you know who to call if you need work done in your house...just kidding - call my dad he's the one that made it look so good!

Here's a few before shots so you can have an idea of what we had to tackle.

She was pretty eh?

Oliver's online

Hello family and friends! We are attempting a blog so we can share the latest with everyone who lives near and far. I will let you know when I update it. Hopefully it will be better than emailing pictures for you guys. This is his latest picture, his first time discovering grass...of course he had to try eating it! And of course his very cute picture that I sent by email last time. Lot's of photos to come soon!