Reading with the Reids

Thursday, November 5, 2009

AB 09 – A Long 1st Day

Every summer, I try to head out past the glorious Rocky Mountains, to the rolling hills of Alberta. The girls and I spend a little time visiting with my family in Calgary, Airdrie, and, of course, up at the Carefree Resort on Gleniffer Lake.

My Dad is a pretty good photographer, but every once in a while, he really nails the “money shot” – this one is it!

And some shots are “memory shots.” These are both taken when the cousins, Hannah and Robynn, took Daddy/Uncle Mark and Grandpa Boat to the park.

Of course the pool is always a big hit with Robynn – and we had the chance to introduce Natasha to the wonders of water while at Carefree!

Robynn had to have a turn too!

Of course, there is more water than just in the pool… We also have the makeshift bath:

My little sister did it; I have to do it!!!

Enjoying some time with Gpa Boat after a long first day in AB.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A New Path To Travel

Russell won't be taking the West Cost Express for much longer. He received the phone call we've been waiting for today - School District 42 has offered him a job in their IT department, and he's gladly accepted.

This will be a great move for our family, as Russ's commute will change from 3 hours daily to 30 minutes daily. Now he'll have more time for friends, family, and getting his own business up and running. (I'll let you know as soon as his web site is ready.)

Right now, he's completing Apple certification for the new job (they use Mac's - yucky!), and he begins Monday, November 23rd.

Leaving Harbour Air will be hard. They have been very good to Russ, and he's loved the people that he's met along the way. But this is a very good move for Russ and our family.

I'm very proud of my hubby!!! Congratulations Russ xo xo xo

I Have an Addiction

Yup, I'm addicted to photos of my girls!!! Especially professional ones...

Okay, you know the drill: Matt Kennedy's photography, go to the client page - password reid.

Halloween pics! Awesome!

D.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Water and Wine

Although this was a joint family vacation with the Lewis girls, we Reids spent a little time together bonding.

Our girls really enjoyed their time at the Wrights Campground pool and only kind of enjoyed our short (but not short enough) tour of the Naramata Bench Wineries.

Although the pool was the reason I chose this campground over any other, it didn't play as huge a role in our vacation as I thought it might. However, we did get to partake of it's cool waters on a couple of occasions...

We visited 3 wineries: Township 7, Red Rooster, and Lang. Of the 3, I was most impressed with Red Rooster– they’ve got a beautiful space, and their wines are very reasonably priced and tasty. However, my new favouritest wine is from Lang – their Grand Pinot – Yummy!

The garden outside Township 7 was beautiful!

The inside wasn’t so bad either!!!

Red Rooster had some interesting suitcase art around their grounds… hmmm…

Robynn found the mermaid, well, ummm… I guess we’re not art connoisseurs.

This is my favourite art!

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The view from Lang Vineyards:

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The last day – we packed up most of our stuff, and headed off to the public beach for a swim. We should have gone here earlier! The water was nice, the sand was comfortable (no big rocks to walk on), and it wasn’t crowded at all!

See that slide waaaaaaayyyyy out there. Russ and Robynn swam out to that slide and, although it took her a couple of tries, she did go off...

Bye Bye Penticton - until we meet again.

A Windy Day at the Beach

Russ was the only man on our journey for most of the week, and one day we decided to test his limits by packing six girls and allllll their belongings, snacks, drinks, pack ‘n play, towel… you get the picture. Fun was had by all, and we all – those of us over the age of 4 - made it into the water… some more willingly than others!

You can hear the wind – Russ is a little far away, as I’m not quite sure I want to brave the water yet… Look how choppy the water was, Joelley almost lost her balance!

Okay, I jumped in – not very deep this lake!

We all impressed upon Mommy/Miss Auntie Lynda that she needed to go for a dip – she caved under the pressure!

Natasha and Susanna played comfortably in the pack ‘n play – shaded from the sun with a large beach towel and protected from the wind with a large beach umbrella.

Here’s some random video of the girls just enjoying their day at the beach:

The big girls playing in the sand.

Susanna playing in the sand.

Swim Dare Devils!

Our last weekend in Penticton was a little rainy. So what do you do when it rains on your vacation? Take the vacation indoors! We took all our girls to the Penticton Pool! Actually, this pool is really great for families. It has a little, very warm, pool that Natasha and Susanna enjoyed very much, but it also has the deeper pools – you know the ones with the high dive boards. Well, Joelle and Robynn thought it might be fun to go off of the high dive board! We convinced them to try the lower one first, but that was so easy, they just had to try the high dive! Wow! We, and many other spectator parents, were so impressed at these little girls’ fabulous feats!

Look at the difference in leg action - Natasha thinks she's in a jolly jumper! Her legs didn't stop moving the whole time we were in the pool.

Here are the big girls...

3 Birthdays – 1 day

While in Penticton, we celebrated 3 very special birthdays! Susanna, Joelle, and Lynda all have their birthdays in August, so it was an awesome treat to share this time with the wonderful girls.

I had the privilege of taking my friend out for lunch to the bistro at Hillside Estate Winery. We had a wonderful time: sipping the delicious wines, savouring the spectacular food, enjoying the breathtaking views, and revelling in the quiet (we left ALL 4 girls with Russ!).

We even went for a wine tasting down the road to Poplar Grove – okay, we really went for the cheese – yummmmmm. But the views were mind blowing!

While we were enjoying 4 hours of freedom and tranquility, our girls were enjoying 4 hours of playtime with Daddy/Mr. Uncle Russ!

He cheated!

The big girls had movie time while the little girls slept.

Lots of tricks up his sleeve: special toys for the occasion…

A walk to the park – that must have been fun: two big girls walking on their own, one little girl being pushed in a stroller, one little girl being carried in his arms… Wow – what a trooper. He really loves us a lot!