I Think I am Done for a while...

Sterling in Saskatoon in a sweet Canola field a minute from my brothers house....
Not my brightest idea...I had a really bad headache and Sterling was whining because we had been traveling for a long time. I decided to give him half a 100 calorie milk chocolate bar to get a little bit of quiet. I ended up spending 30 minutes getting the chocolate out of all the nooks and crannies of his car seat and fat folds on windy roads in BC. YOu can't see but there is more chocolate than appears in this tiny photo.
We collect photos of large roadside attractions all over. THis is a penny in Salmo, BC. Not one of the finest roadside attractions, but it had to be taken none the less.

So we just got back from yet another vacation...In June we spent 3 weeks driving everywhere. We went through BC and stayed in Seattle area a couple days, then went to Ocean Shores, Wa for a week. We then decided to do an impromptu trip to Utah to see our fams for a week. We got home after being away for almost 3 weeks and about 3 days later headed to Saskatoon to spend a week with my brother. Well, after we got home from that trip we decided we needed to take our token BC trip (we go to BC every year because we love it so freakin' much). We left about 3 days after our Saskatoon trip and went to BC for a week. It was by far the funest trip we have had this summer. In two months we have put about 15,000kms on our car and I think Sterly is all traveled out. We went to Rossland, BC for a few days. My brother Ryan and his wife Kaylee live there. We had a good ole' time hanging there. We went on a hike every morning, which was only a 30 second walk from their house. Picked tons of huckle berries and ate them until we were sick and full of berries. Swimming in the river in Trail because it was 42 degrees Celsius there, wow it was hot. Kaylee is the best hostess around. She fed us lots of food and made us smoothies every night. Which got me hooked on them. As soon as we got home we bought a ton of fruit and yogurt to make smoothies. YUMMY!!! She has some pretty sweet earrings , check out her esty page at: kayleefish1.etsy.com

We found out that Stacy had to work in Kamloops for the week so we decided last minute to crash the free hotel for a couple of nights and invade their space. THe drive there was super crazy. There are tons of wildfires in Kelowna right now and it was a windy stormy day so it blew all the smoke from 40 minutes away into Vernon. We could only see 5 feet in front of us when we were driving. Apprently, we went through there on a day that it was the smokiest it has been in 50 odd years. Kamloops was a ton of fun as always. The power was out in a bunch of Kamloops when we got there and it was kinda rainy so we just kinda chilled out and ate lots of food, which is always good. THe next day we had a picnic lunch at Paul Lake which didn't turn out as planned. The lake has swimmer's itch and leeches so we decided to skip the swimming for now. We went back to Kamloops and spent the whole afternoon swimming in the river and splash park near by. Got a wicked tan which I have been trying to achieve all summer. Sterling absolutely loves water so he had a good time.

Headed back through Vernon, which was empty of smoke because the wind had shifted and went to Fauquier, BC. My sister owns property there on lower arrow lake. It was kinda rainy that night so we just settled in a watched a movie. THe next day we spent the whole day beach lounging. I was smart enough to put the sunscreen on my son and set him in the shade but not myself. I ruined my wicked tan with a gnarly burn to my shoulders. I never seem to learn, not matter how old I get that I am a burner, I rarely tan. Arrow Lake was by far the warmest lake I have ever swum in. It was so warm it didn't jolt you when you got in and only took 20 seconds to adjust. Tons of fun. Sadly, we headed back home. I had a doctor's appointment or else we would have stayed for another week.

I am headed back to work in two weeks. UNbelievable!!! Sad cloud for me.

-Alauna

Toontown

We just got back this week from visiting Colin, Stacey and the fam in Saskatoon. They just had a little guy 2 weeks ago named Tyler Michael Gibb. What a freakin' little cutie!!! I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that my baby was that small at some point. Even smaller, by the time we saw him, he was 1 pound heavier than Sterling was at the same age. Yeah, unbelievable that you forget that they were once that tiny. It made me want to order another one of these things because I miss that. Just sleeping and cuddling you all day long.


Wow, a year happens so fast once you have kids. I have 3 weeks until I start work again and my little boy will be a 1 year old. Pretty worked up about it...I haven't been able to sleep that last few weeks because I am panicking about leaving the little guy. The longest I have been away from him is 4 hours and that only happened a few times. I love going out twice a month for date night, but 10 hours away from him each day is going to be a killer. I just need to focus on this isn't going to be forever. HUrm...getting pregnant is seeming all too appealing lately. Get another maternity leave to spend with m y crazy midgets and get a cute little thing to cuddle with. I am sure it will happen all too soon and I will be wondering what I got myself into. That is about what I thought my whole last pregnancy.


Sterling is doing good these days. What a little trooper. He has handled 4 massive road trips (Calgary - Washington State, Washington - Utah, Utah-Calgary and lastly Calgary - Saskatoon and back, not to mention the 50 4 hour trips we have taken this summer) with ease and we are thinking about another one in a week. I am trying to suck all the fun time out my last few weeks, plus it would be great to see Ryan and Kaylee living out in Rossland. He is learning all sorts of new things each day. He can say apple, mama, papa, dog, duck, ball, bottle and a couple others that are escaping my mind at the moment. He can also do a few tricks like clap, wave hello and goodbye, point to his nose and others. I love this stage, it is so cute!!! He is going to be fitted for a standing frame at his next Physio/Occupational Therapist visit as well as AFO's. The AFO's will straighten out his feet and ankles and help him to stand. He won't be able to stand without a standing frame or dynamic stander but that is something at least. I am really excited for him to be able to do that!!! Anyways...Here are a few of the pictures I took of my new nephew (Tyler) and Sterling's replacement as youngest baby in the fam. Check em out. Late!

-Alauna

Wheels

Sterling got his first set of wheels today. It took us about a day to make it but we think that it turned out rather well. We would at least like to think so... They call these things star cars and they usually look like this...

but they don't sell them anymore because they didn't enough sales to continue this item. We wanted to make it something that when he was a little older, he thought would be cool and fun to ride in. So we made him a little fire truck. I am still looking for a fire bell to put on the front and a steering wheel but it is pretty much done. We set him in it and he instantly knew that he had to turn the wheels to move. He can only turn himself into circles right now, but at least he is moving. He has really been wanting to get down and play and move lately but he wont cooperate with tummy time so he hasn't learned to army crawl. We are so proud of the little guy and it totally warms our hearts to see him learning to move himself in any way. Hopefully he will get the hang of this so he can get around quicker.. What a little trooper we have! Here is vid. of the little guy trying his truck out.

-Alauna